Author Jennifer  Smith visited Curtis on December 16th for a talk about her book, The Geography of You and Me, in the library during periods 5, 6 and 7. The Geography of You and Me is  a novel about a girl named Lucy and a boy named Owen who fall in love after getting stuck in an elevator together.

This is the second author that has come to Curtis.  Last year Laura Schroff, the author of An Invisible Thread came to Curtis twice. Mr. DeConzo the assistant principal of English praised the  Author Adopt-a-School Program, in which authors  volunteer  to come to specific school to speak to students.  “Students see words on the page  but there is no connection, with this program they meet the creators of those words.  It really changes the way they see the books,” said Deconzo.  Mr. DeConzo credits Ms. Rita Dougherty the school librarian for bringing the program to Curtis.

Ms. Pizzano, freshmen IB English teacher,said,  “I really enjoyed hearing Jennifer Smith talk about the process of writing her stories. She described how she  develops the characters over time throughout the book. She doesn’t wait until she has put them into situations as she’s writing. I think that’s interesting and nice of her to describe her process because each author works differently.”

Smith intentionally does not describe the way the characters look. “I find it very awkward and clunky to think about what the characters look like. I want the reader to be able to picture the characters themselves because everyone thinks of them differently,” said Smith.

During an interview, she spoke about her real life experiences that influenced the book. “I have been through a long distance relationship and it has influenced the book in many ways. Through this story, my real life experiences turned into fiction,” said Smith.

The novel is dedicated to Allison, Erika, Brian, Melissa, Meg, and Joe, “for being such great company during the real blackout.”

In the book, Smith included a famous E.E. Cummings quote, “And this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart I carry your heart (I carry it in my heart).” Smith said, “This one is my favorite quotes from E.E. Cummings and I felt it fit perfectly with the plot of the novel.”