On Wednesday, December 18th, Camden Middle School had the honor of bringing New York Times Bestselling Author John Schu to campus for a school-wide celebration of reading with staff and students.
Schu is an author, librarian, educator, and literary advocate from Naperville, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. He is passionate about three things: kids, books, and the people that connect them together such as librarians and teachers.
He is best known as the New York Times best-selling author of Louder Than Hunger; This Is a School, This Is a Story, and The Gift of Story: Exploring the Affective Side of the Reading Life. In March 2025, he will release his next title, Ruthie Rose’s Big Idea. He is the children’s librarian for Bookelicious, a part-time lecturer at Rutgers University, and shares his love of reading with countless educators and students around the world. He also served as the Ambassador of School Libraries for Scholastic Book Fairs for almost 6 years.
During a pair of morning presentations to the student body, Schu discussed the importance of reading and school libraries, drawing on his experiences as a teacher and school librarian. He recounted many of his favorite and most impactful books and authors, and gave away copies of some of those books to the staff and students. One of the authors he is most fond of is Katherine Applegate, who he has collaborated with in the past on several projects.
Each student walked away with a copy of Applegate’s book “The One and Only Ivan”, which has had a profound impact on Schu’s life.
Following the presentations, Schu hosted a school-wide book signing in the library and was very excited to get to know more about each student. He signed all of the books he gave away, whether he wrote them or not.
Thanks for coming, John!
