Editor’s note: This press release was provided by the Pelham Union Free School District. The Pelham Examiner publishes press releases in the form received as a service to the community.

Pelham Middle Schoolers explored the genre of science fiction with a special visit from New York Times bestselling author Jasmine Warga on Friday, December 8. Ms. Warga has written several books for middle school audiences, including “Other Words For Home,” “The Shape of Thunder,” and “A Rover’s Story,” which was named one of the Global Read Aloud Choice books for 2023.

This cross disciplinary event, which bridges the students’ study of reading, writing and science, is part of the “Pelham Chases Space” collaboration.

At the author talk, Ms. Warga told students about her journey to become an author, which included time as a 6th grade science teacher. She also spoke about her writing process, including the immense amount of research she conducts before starting her book. For example, through her research for “A Rover’s Story,” she learned that when developing the Mars Rover, NASA built a total of three identical robots, only one of which was destined for space. In the novel, one of those robots “Resilience,” who would ultimately go to Mars, became the main character, while the two crafts that did not make the journey became Resilience’s friends, serving to personify the robots. Ms. Warga also spoke about adjusting her personal writing style to match the dialogue of robots, which she envisioned to be much different than writing for human characters.

Ms. Warga also told the students about different phases of the writing and publishing process, providing insight into the publishing business as well as different aspects of editing, copy editing and  more.

“A Rover’s Story” is available to students in the Middle School Library and in students’ classroom libraries. Please visit Ms. Warga’s website to learn more about the author and her work.

• The Pelham Examiner reports on education from Kindergarten musicals to board of ed meetings. Give now to support the nonprofit community newspaper that covers Pelham schools.