The Sun Sets, & Reading Rises, At Truman

Twins Marin and Kana are left behind on a dystopian island that alternates between 14 years of sunlight and 14 years of nightfall.

The long sun is about to set — and Marin and Kana are not alone.

What happens next? Pulitzer Prize-winning local author Jake Halpern wouldn’t say. Truman School sixth graders Jovanni Sanchez, Julian Torres, and Kayden Williams had some ideas of their own.

That was the scene as local author and journalist Jake Halpern introduced the chilling tales of two of his young adult adventure novels, Nightfall and Edgeland, to a group of sixth graders at Truman School at 114 Truman St. in the Hill Thursday morning. 

Students sat at the edge of their seats as Halpern told the room of 50 sixth graders about how each book begins. Halpern avoided too many spoilers so the students can find out for themselves how the stories end. He also donated signed copies of one of the two books to each student present at Thursday’s special class.

Under a library banner reading ​“You are the author of your own life story,” Halpern told the story of Nightfall, a sci-fi novel set on an island where the sun shines for 14 consecutive years, and is followed by 14 straight years of darkness. 

Halpern set the scene in the school’s library, detailing the book’s start on the final day of sunlight on the island and its community of residents packing up their belongings to sail South to avoid 14 years of living in darkness. However, while twins Marin and Kana’s family prepares to get on a boat, the siblings believe they have enough time to find a lost friend and set out on an hourslong adventure to rescue them. And while the duo find their friend, they end up missing the community’s departure and get left behind to try to survive a shadowy island they’ve never experienced before.

Halpern motioned with his hands to demonstrate the quick flow of the ocean tides that the island community sailed away on. He told the students: ​“In this world the difference between high tide and low tide is 500 miles, so when the tide turns, what was once the ocean becomes like the desert. And it happens really fast.”

Students gasped ​“Oh man!” when Halpern revealed the trio was left behind. 

Back in the story, as night began, the trio return to the siblings’ house and fall asleep in what once was their bedroom, but now lacks all of their belongings. Halpern said in a whisper, voicing the character of Marin: ​“Guys, there’s someone downstairs.” 

The Truman School sixth graders leaned forward in their seats and gave each other side glances from across the room, letting out gasps and nervous giggles. 

Halpern turned to a bookshelf beside him to slap his hands against the wood, imitating the heavy footsteps of whoever or whatever was walking up the stairs and heading right for the trio. 

“Uh oh,” one student said aloud. ​“Oh my God,” said another. 

“And if you want to know what happens next, you got to read my book,” Halpern concluded, which caused the students to erupt in playful groans, laughs, and claps. 

Students immediately offered up questions and theories of what happens next. 

“Is that thing a monster?” one student asked. 

Halpern told the group, ​“I’m not going to give you all the answers because then you won’t read my book.” But he did share that whatever it is that the kids do encounter is really big, strong, and makes snorting noises. 

“Why didn’t the parents stay for their kids?” another student asked. Halpern revealed that the book will later explain that the parents assumed that their kids had boarded a different boat and did not know they were left behind. 

One student suggested that Halpern should have written into the book that the students jump from their bedroom window to escape. 

“Do the kids have powers?” was another question. Halpern answered with a ​“maybe.”

After offering partial answers to the questions about Nightfall, Halpern asked the class. ​“Are you ready for one more story?” The students cheered, ​“Yes please!” 

For the next 15 minutes, Halpern told the students about the start of his novel Edgeland. That’s another sci-fi novel, this one inspired by Halpern’s upbringing in Buffalo, New York, and his experiences visiting the Niagara Falls. 

Halpern told the students that he struggled with reading growing up, as he wasn’t a fast reader and was a bad speller. ​“You don’t need to be a fast reader to be an author,” Halpern said. 

During the question and answer period about Edgeland, Halpern told the students about his process for writing books that he co-authors. He said to write together, he and his co-author use a Google Document and have conversations about the book’s setting and characters. They each take notes and write an outline, then begin writing chapters. 

Sixth grader Yamielis said Halpern’s books interested her a lot, particularly Nightfall. She guessed that the ​“monster” described by Halpern during his talk Thursday was a bear or wolf. 

“It makes it easy to read when it’s an interesting book for me,” Yamielis said. ​“I’ll read this because it’s interesting.” 

Fellow sixth graders Jovanni Sanchez, Julian Torres, and Kayden Williams had different theories for the Nightfall creature but agreed that they look forward to reading that book next. 

Sanchez, a self-proclaimed horror lover, theorized that by the end of the book there will be only one survivor of the three kids stuck on the sunless island for the next 14 years. Meanwhile, Torres guessed that the monsters, which he believes will be uncovered as a pig and human mixture, have been there all along lurking in the island woods. 

“I don’t usually read but that was interesting, so I’m reading his books,” Sanchez said. 

Halpern left Thursday with a promise to return and share more stories to get students motivated to read.