A Day with Earl Sewell

    The Thornwood High School Book Club is pleased to announce an afternoon with Earl Sewell, author of both young adult and adult fiction. Mr. Sewell is a long-time resident of South Holland, Illinois and his daughter, Candice is a Junior at Thornwood High School. He has written 14 books to date and is working on his next adult fiction novel. Mr. Sewell writes a young adult series under the KimaniTru label, which is called Keysha. There are four books in the Keysha series and they are: Keysha’s Drama, If I Were Your Boyfriend, Lessoned Learned and Decision Time. The fifth book in the series entitled, Myself and I is due out September 2010.
     Our book club sat down to talk to Mr. Sewell about the first book, Keysha’s Drama and we had a lot to talk about. When I spoke with Mr. Sewell on the phone I explained to him that everybody in the book club was angry and did not like the ending of the book. He replied, “Good that will just make them read the second book.” The book club members had many questions, like is Keysha a real person and is she really a student at Thornwood. Mr. Sewell explained, that while writing Keysha’s Drama he used many places that are real like, Thornwood High School, River Oaks Mall, Mr. Submarine and many other places in Chicago, but the character Keysha is fictitious.
     The afternoon went by so quickly, with Mr. Sewell and the book club. Mr. Sewell even read several passages from the book and explained in detailed how he began to write the Keysha series. We had lunch together and the conversation shifted from the book to real life questions. Like how do you become a writer, how do you get your manuscript published and can you make a good living at it? We discussed the difficulties growing up in an urban community, bullying and the many social problems teenagers encounter on a daily basis. I think that afternoon we were all encouraged to work harder, stay positive and prepare for the next chapter in our lives just like Keysha. Mr. Sewell is a good writer and I continue to call him to visit the school and he always tells me yes.