Author Encourages Young Readers

Dashner
Dashner

— In a world where televisions carry 100-plus channels, game consoles transform players into avatars and YouTube depicts just about every scenario imaginable, a group of kids crowded into the John Q. Hammons Center on Saturday to talk about books.

By The Book

Dashner Series

Series by author James Dashner

• Jimmy Fincher Series

• The 13th Reality Series

• The Maze Runner Series

• Infinity Ring Series

More than 100 people filled a conference room to talk about old-fashioned page-turners with one of their favorite authors, Georgia native James Dashner.

Rogers middle school students set up an elaborate welcome for Dashner that he said was the most unique way he’d ever been introduced. Mayor Greg Hines’ introductory comments about Dashner were interrupted by animated characters that popped up on a screen.

“Mayor Hines, Mayor Hines,” two shadowy characters intoned in a robotic voice. They asked Hines and the audience to help crack a code. At the same time, volunteers with the Rogers Public Library Foundation handed out “passports” in different colors with QR codes that participants could scan with smartphones to give answers to questions.

The room buzzed as children helped their parents figure out how to use their phones to scan the codes and unravel the mystery. Students on the stage turned over large, square QR codes as the answers were called out, and the first letter of each answer spelled out, “DASHNER.”

When the mystery was solved, the author took the stage to applause and cheers from the students.

“That was really, really, really, really ... really cool,” Dashner said.

Middle school students in Rogers’ Gifted and Talented program came up with the idea for the codes and put the plan into action. They also created the animated sequence and designed a QR code for the Rogers Public Library Foundation.

Beth Carnes, a member of Rogers Public Library Foundation Board and also director of Rogers’ gifted and talented programs, said the board wanted to get students involved in the program.

“They take on authentic problems and work to solve them,” Carnes said. “They built all the QR codes and the presentations. My favorite moment was when a kid said, ‘Here mom, give me that. I’ll show you how to do it.’”

The kids in the audience were involved with more than just the planning. Nine came dressed up as their favorite historical characters from Dashner’s new series, the Infinity Ring series. Cleopatra, Christopher Columbus, Eleanor Roosevelt and a couple of cavemen put on a fashion show early in the program.

Students peppered Dashner with questions about his writing process and how he came up with ideas for characters in his popular Maze Runner series. Dashner was quick to share his story with kids, telling how he started writing at age 8 and worked as an accountant while he tried to get published. He encouraged kids not to give up on their dreams of becoming whatever it is they envision for themselves.

He showed a video clip for the online game that accompanies the Infinity Ring series, in which he is writing the first and final books. The five books sandwiched in between will be written by five other authors so the series will roll out quickly, he said.

The stories embrace an alternate reality where history is “just a little bit off,” he said. The Egyptians never built the pyramids, the French Revolution never happened, Columbus never made it to America. Characters must race back in time and fix the historical quirks that are ripping apart the earth in the novels.

Students were excited about the book and lined up after the program to buy their own signed copy. Noah Grant, 13, of Rogers said he is a big fan of Dashner’s Maze Runner books. He said books for young adults are more interesting now than they were years ago.

All of the proceeds from ticket and books sales surrounding the event go to the Rogers Public Library Foundation. The event was the community part of its Conversations program, the group’s major annual fundraiser. Earlier events included a writers workshop and evening reception.

The foundation funds the Grace Hill Memorial Scholarship, which provides $500 awards to winners of an essay contest.

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