Book writer and Sunshine State Young Reader Award Nominee Taryn Souders made a virtual visit on October 8, 2020. Souders and Librarian Reba Gordon organized this event to talk about Souders’s new book, Coop Knows The Scoop, and also discuss books in general. The discussion focused on the “mystery aspect” of books, meaning what goes into creating a mystery book and the overall feeling of those types of books. There were also discussions on the different types of crimes that can occur. People who participated in this event even got a sneak peak at Souders’ next book, called “The Radcliffe Riddle”. Souders also visits Trinity to participate in the annual Author’s Festival.
Normally, Souders performs interactive math magic tricks with her books, “Wholey-Cow! Fractions are Fun,” and “Dead Possums are Fair Game.” “Wholey-Cow! Fractions are Fun” is about learning about fractions. “Dead Possums are Fair Game” is about a girl named Ella who hates spiders and math, believes that anything with four or more legs should not exist. However, she loves science a lot more than math and finds it more interesting. One morning, her class finds a dead possum playing in the field, interested in how long until the possum is unstiffened.
Now that the visit is virtual, she has to rely on teachers calling on students for volunteering and asking questions.
Sixth grader Antoinette Ruby attended the event and talked about what was discussed at the event,
“We mostly talked about fiction and mysteries,” Ruby said.
The event also focused on different types of crimes, but the main focus was on poison.
“We discussed different crimes, how some are committed, we talked about weapons, like poison. [Souders] mostly talked about poison, cause that’s what the book is based off, so we talked about poison, how people died, guns, knives, and stuff like that which she didn’t use in her book, talked about that and she talked about how some of them work, and we talked about poison mostly,” said Ruby.
Souders’s book, “Coop Knows The Scoop,” was inspired by her love for mysteries. Mrs. Gordon chose the title of Souder’s third middle school book.
“Coop Knows the Scoop” is actually Ms. Souders’ third middle school book. She was trying something new in terms of a virtual presentation, and I chose that title,” said Gordon.
She was also inspired by Sheila Tumage, who wrote “Three Times Lucky.” “Three Times Lucky” is about eleven-year-old Moses “Mo” Lobeau who is the narrator and the main character, who describes the story of a murder mystery in a small North Carolina town.
Souders didn’t want to write anything too gory so she came up with a skeleton in a playground. “Coop Knows The Scoop” is about a boy named Coop who helps his mom out with her cafe and bookstore, in Windy Bottom, Georgia, where there is never a problem until his Grandpa starts taking the blame for a problem that leads to secrets that were hidden beneath the small town.
While writing “Coop Knows the Scoop,” Souders chose to begin with the ending of the story.
“That was a new approach for me, for sure, cause I usually hadn’t done that,” said Souders.
At the end of the event, Souders read the first chapter of her next book, “The Radcliffe Riddle”, to everyone who attended the event. “The Radcliffe Riddle” is also another mystery.
Students got their signed copy of the book when they had Mrs. Bowden for english class.
“Mrs. Bowden [had the books] in her classroom and during [English] class you would go and get [the book],” said Ruby.
