{"id":113,"date":"2022-08-31T13:52:12","date_gmt":"2022-08-31T13:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/?p=113"},"modified":"2023-02-14T20:59:57","modified_gmt":"2023-02-14T20:59:57","slug":"gordon-korman-publishes-his-100th-book-with-scholastic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/2022\/08\/31\/gordon-korman-publishes-his-100th-book-with-scholastic\/","title":{"rendered":"Gordon Korman Publishes His 100th Book with Scholastic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Originally published by On Our Minds on June 15, 2022<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

On June 28, author Gordon Korman is publishing his 100th book with Scholastic. You read that right\u2013 The Fort<\/em> is Gordon\u2019s 100th published book for young readers, after the publication of his first 44 years ago in 1978 when he was just 12 years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Fort<\/em> is the tale of the aftermath of a hurricane that has ripped through the small town of Canaan. A motley crew of eighth grade boys \u2013 Evan, Jason, Mitchell, and CJ \u2013 meet to explore the devastation. The group is annoyed to find that Evan has brought along the new kid\u2013 a boy named Ricky who doesn\u2019t have any friends. But Ricky is the one who finds a trap door in the middle of the woods\u2013 a door to an old 1980s bomb shelter, unearthed by the hurricane. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inside the bomb shelter, the boys discover a completely intact underground room with electricity and an old television, and vow to keep the existence of the shelter to themselves. Thus, the creation of The Fort<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gordon didn\u2019t intentionally choose The Fort<\/em> to be his 100th book. \u201cIt just worked out that way,\u201d he says. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t until I did an official count that I realized it was going to be my 100th. I think it was the perfect book to be just that\u2013 I\u2019ve written a lot about friendship in the 44 years that I\u2019ve been doing this. I think of all the friendships I\u2019ve created, this is the one I\u2019m most proud of.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The ragtag team of boys certainly are the epitome of friendship. Reminiscent of The Sandlot<\/em>, Stand by Me<\/em>, and Stranger Things<\/em>, the story revolves around a group of kids who band together to save the day. Whether it be fending off an abusive stepfather, navigating a new relationship, dealing with a troublesome older brother who hangs out with the wrong crowd, or trying to survive being the new kid, Evan, Jason, Mitchell, CJ, and Ricky each have their own troubles and their own story to tell. They also have each other\u2019s backs as best they can. \u201cWhat I hope resonates with readers, even on a subconscious level, is the friendship between the guys,\u201d says Gordon. \u201cThe beautiful, but at the same time messy, warts and all, visceral, kind of multifaceted glory of their friendship. These kids love each other, but if you break down the dialogue, they don\u2019t say a lot about how they feel. It just sort of comes through in their actions and later on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the bomb shelter, Gordon takes his crew of boys and has them interact with remnants of 70s and 80s culture. \u201cThe cool factor of the fort itself was the most fun part of writing this book,\u201d he explains. \u201cTrying to see from the perspective of today\u2019s kids\u2013 how they would interact with a record player and music from the 70s\u2026 Just writing about these kids watching Jaws, which was the movie that scared me so badly in the 5th grade that I wouldn’t go to sleep until I was positive that the shark on my Jaws t-shirt was face down in my drawer\u2026 In a lot of ways it was generationally perfect for when I was the age of the kids in the story.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gordon writes for young readers because when he first began writing at the age of 12 for a 7th grade assignment, he was writing for kids like him, and for kids his age at the time. \u201cMy theory is that the middle grade years are the years you become in charge of your own opinion,\u201d says Gordon. \u201cWhat has sort of stunned me is how important the stories that we love as kids, particularly middle grade age kids, stick with us our whole lives. But I have to admit, my 12 year old self, when I first started writing, is much closer to my readers in age than I am,\u201d he says. \u201cI gotta sort of stick with whatever my gut was back then.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re an aspiring writer, Gordon advises making writing a part of your everyday life. \u201cMake it something you do every day, or almost every day,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat I find odd is that it doesn\u2019t really matter what kind of writing it is, you can blog and journal and not do any of that stuff and just always have a project you’re working on. One of the things I see as I travel is that this is more of an adult thing than a kid thing. Adults will say they\u2019re going to write a book one day and describe it and it seems so thought out in their head. And you\u2019ll always hear they haven\u2019t started it yet. There are a lot of would-be writers out there that are waiting for the stars to align. I think that it would have been like that for me too, if it weren\u2019t for that 7th grade English assignment, or if something hadn\u2019t really forced me to write a story.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally published by On Our Minds on June 15, 2022 On June 28, author Gordon Korman is publishing his 100th book with Scholastic. You read that right\u2013 The Fort is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[5,6,14,18,13],"class_list":["post-113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hot-topics","tag-book-clubs","tag-book-fairs","tag-books","tag-new","tag-trending"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGordon Korman Publishes His 100th Book with Scholastic | Scholastic at School Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/2022\/08\/31\/gordon-korman-publishes-his-100th-book-with-scholastic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gordon Korman Publishes His 100th Book with Scholastic | Scholastic at School Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Originally published by On Our Minds on June 15, 2022 On June 28, author Gordon Korman is publishing his 100th book with Scholastic. You read that right\u2013 The Fort is...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/2022\/08\/31\/gordon-korman-publishes-his-100th-book-with-scholastic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Scholastic at School Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-31T13:52:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-14T20:59:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/08\/Gordon-Korman-Publishes-His-100th-Book-with-Scholastic.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/2022\/08\/31\/gordon-korman-publishes-his-100th-book-with-scholastic\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/2022\/08\/31\/gordon-korman-publishes-his-100th-book-with-scholastic\/\",\"name\":\"Gordon Korman Publishes His 100th Book with Scholastic | Scholastic at School Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/2022\/08\/31\/gordon-korman-publishes-his-100th-book-with-scholastic\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/2022\/08\/31\/gordon-korman-publishes-his-100th-book-with-scholastic\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/08\/Gordon-Korman-Publishes-His-100th-Book-with-Scholastic.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-31T13:52:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-14T20:59:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/2022\/08\/31\/gordon-korman-publishes-his-100th-book-with-scholastic\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/2022\/08\/31\/gordon-korman-publishes-his-100th-book-with-scholastic\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/08\/Gordon-Korman-Publishes-His-100th-Book-with-Scholastic.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/08\/Gordon-Korman-Publishes-His-100th-Book-with-Scholastic.png\",\"width\":800,\"height\":450},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/\",\"name\":\"Scholastic at School Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/author\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Gordon Korman Publishes His 100th Book with Scholastic | Scholastic at School Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/2022\/08\/31\/gordon-korman-publishes-his-100th-book-with-scholastic\/","og_type":"article","og_title":"Gordon Korman Publishes His 100th Book with Scholastic | Scholastic at School Blog","og_description":"Originally published by On Our Minds on June 15, 2022 On June 28, author Gordon Korman is publishing his 100th book with Scholastic. You read that right\u2013 The Fort is...","og_url":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/2022\/08\/31\/gordon-korman-publishes-his-100th-book-with-scholastic\/","og_site_name":"Scholastic at School Blog","article_published_time":"2022-08-31T13:52:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-02-14T20:59:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":450,"url":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/08\/Gordon-Korman-Publishes-His-100th-Book-with-Scholastic.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/2022\/08\/31\/gordon-korman-publishes-his-100th-book-with-scholastic\/","url":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/2022\/08\/31\/gordon-korman-publishes-his-100th-book-with-scholastic\/","name":"Gordon Korman Publishes His 100th Book with Scholastic | Scholastic at School Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/2022\/08\/31\/gordon-korman-publishes-his-100th-book-with-scholastic\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/2022\/08\/31\/gordon-korman-publishes-his-100th-book-with-scholastic\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/08\/Gordon-Korman-Publishes-His-100th-Book-with-Scholastic.png","datePublished":"2022-08-31T13:52:12+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-14T20:59:57+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/2022\/08\/31\/gordon-korman-publishes-his-100th-book-with-scholastic\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/2022\/08\/31\/gordon-korman-publishes-his-100th-book-with-scholastic\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/08\/Gordon-Korman-Publishes-His-100th-Book-with-Scholastic.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/08\/Gordon-Korman-Publishes-His-100th-Book-with-Scholastic.png","width":800,"height":450},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/","name":"Scholastic at School Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/author\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}