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Author Rick Yancey visits Austintown library
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Neighbors | Alisa Manna.Raffle winner, Mickaela Hibbs (left), an eigth grader at Austintown Middle School, poses with author Rick Yancey (right) and the signed copy of Yancey's book she won.
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Neighbors | Alisa Manna.Rick Yancey (front) signs copies of his book as, from left, (back) book distributor Jim Restele, Development Director Deborah Liptak, Teen coordinator John Waller and Teen Librarian Cindy Beach look on.
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Neighbors | Alisa Manna.Author Rick Yancey, of the Monstumologist series, visited the Austintown library as a part of teen read week and spoke about the importance of moving past fear to do what you love.
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Neighbors | Alisa Manna.Shown is raffle winner Nicole Murphy (left), an eighth-grader at Austintown Middle School, as she gets her book signed by author Rick Yancey (right) at the Austintown library.
By ALISA MANNA
More than 100 students piled into the Austintown library’s meeting room on Oct. 12 to meet and greet Printz award-winning author Rick Yancey.
The event was sponsored by Friends of the Public Library of Youngstown, Friends of the Poland library, Friends of the Austintown library and Friends of the Boardman library.
Teen Librarian Cindy Beach and Teen Coordinators John Waller and Beverly Chearno arranged the teen collections and services for Mahoning County. Together, they selected Yancey as a well-read and appropriate author to visit the library.
“His books are wonderful with well-developed characters,” Beach said. “They’re just creepy enough without being too scary.”
The librarians also explained Yancey’s visit had great timing, because it matched the monster theme of teen read week.
Development Director Deborah Liptak worked with the Friends of the Library to make all of the arrangements and to fund the event. Liptak and the Friends of the Library also arranged for Mahoning Valley Distributing to sell copies of Yancey’s book at the program.
“We’re going to raffle off signed copies of his books and sell others for students who want to buy it here,” Beach said. “He’s also going to take the time to sign copies of those the kids buy.”
Yancey’s presentation was fun and refreshing. He talked to the students about fear, history and the writing process of his Monstrumologist series.
“It’s narrated by an orphan who is an apprentice for a monster hunter in the year 1888,” Yancey said. “It’s a diary of his experiences with the doctor and how they have to save the world from creatures before it’s too late.”
Though Yancey himself doesn’t like fear, he said it’s the first prime emotion human beings experience, and that once he started writing about monsters he couldn’t stop.
“I didn’t want to write about werewolves or mummies,” he said. “They are not real and defy the laws of physics.”
The author said he wanted to write about a monster that could exist in nature. He researched ancient Greek historian Herodotus and stumbled upon his writings of anthropophage, a “people-eater.” These creatures inspired Yancey to write a story about monsters, but not an ordinary monster.
“You don’t have to look far for monsters,” he said. “One’s definition of a monster could just be something that could eat you.”
The author ended his presentation with questions from the students. He also offered advice for aspiring writers who want to push through fear, like he did.
“Don’t give up,” he said. “I can’t believe people pay me to do what I do. It’s just play for me.”