Last year, sophomore students in honors English at McIntosh High School wrote and published “High School 101: Freshman Survival Guide.” This year’s group of sophomores in honors and gifted English, all students of Dawn Burnette and Jamie Lovett, wrote and published “True Character: Letters From Your Bookshelf.”

At the beginning of the school year students were asked to choose a book and write a letter from the perspective of one of the characters on a life lesson that they had learned. Following that project, the students were assigned a classic piece of literature and asked to do the same thing. Among those letters, which Lovett estimated to be close to 180, were the 80 letters that would make the book that the students would put together and publish. The chapters that the letters would be included in touched on themes such as acceptance and tolerance, courage and perseverance and love and friendship, among others.

Besides the critiquing, editing and revision process, the students were asked to write letters to celebrities and famous authors to ask what literary characters affected them and what life lessons they had learned from them. There were responses from a variety of people that included Academy Award winner Paul Newman, former “Charlie’s Angel” Jaclyn Smith, author Yann Martel and coaches Chan Gailey and Mark Richt among numerous others.

Katie Childs was especially excited to get a response from fantasy author Lynn Flewelling. Childs is a fan of the author’s “Night Runner” series and the author responded with a nearly three page response. Orson Scott Card, a science fiction author, also responded with a lengthy response that made the book.

Once the material was in and ready to go, the book binding process began. The students spent much of Wednesday and Thursday of this week putting the 250 books together in Lovett’s classroom. Each student will receive their own copy of the book and the paperback versions will be on sale at Omega Books in Peachtree City. Proceeds from the sale of the book go to First Book, a charity that provides underprivileged children with their first books. The students will also get a taste of being a famous author, when they will appear at Omega Books Apr. 29 from 1-3 p.m. to sign copies of the books.

The students seem to enjoy the project and hope that the classes that follow them also get to produce a book. One student even commented that the project allows them to apply what they’ve learned. The fact that the students see the value of the project obviously pleases both Burnette and Lovett, but the decision on whether or not they will make a book again next year has yet to be made.

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