Woodland Hills High School was honored to welcome bestselling authors Erin Entrada Kelly and Eliot Schrefer to the high school library media center on Wednesday, October 7 to kick off the 13th year of the Woodland Hills Interaction Series.
The pair of authors met with high school students as well as middle school students from Dickson Preparatory STEAM Academy. Their discussion centered around their collaboration on a new book series titled "Fatal Glitch," which has been described as "Black Mirror meets Goosebumps." The fast-paced books are geared toward young adult readers and draw inspiration from a wide range of books, television series, movies, and even video games.
Erin Entrada Kelly is one of only five authors to have been awarded two John Newbery Medals, which recognizes distinguished contributions to American literature for children, as well as a Newbery Honor. She received those honors for her novels "Hello Universe," "We Dream of Space," and "The First State of Being." The latter also was named as a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature.
Entrada Kelly also teaches in the Master's Program in Writing for Young Readers at the University of San Francisco.
Eliot Schrefer is a two-time National Book Award finalist for his young adult novels "Endangered" and "Threatened," which are two of four books in a series about young people and great apes teaming up in stories of survival in unique environments. He has written for a wide range of age groups, and is on the faculty of the University of San Francisco MFA for writing for young people.
During their visit to Woodland Hills, the authors read from their books, including from latest edition of the "Fatal Glitch" series. "Fatal Glitch: Let's Play a Game" was published just a day prior to their visit and just in time for Halloween.
Students were able to ask questions about the books, about the writing process, the authors' inspiration for their ideas, and more. A few students were selected to participate in a few rounds of pop culture trivia, and all students received a "Fatal Glitch" book which they were able to have signed by the authors.
The Woodland Hills School District and the Woodland Hills Interaction Series would like to extend its sincere gratitude to Erin Entrada Kelly and Eliot Schrefer for taking time to meet with our students.