Old Enough: High Schoolers Publish Coming-of-Age Compilation

When I was in grade school, I remember our music teacher, Ms. Cavicchi, used to talk about wanting our class to cut a choral demo recording. It was a thrilling idea, especially in the late '70s, but not because we suffered from delusions of grandeur. The excitement was about the idea of making a statement and leaving a mark—preserving a moment in time, if you will—especially at such a young age.

Sixty-one teen authors from Roxbury’s John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science are feeling a similar thrill this spring as they prepare to unveil a published compilation of their own coming-of-age-themed short stories (known more academically as ‘the bildungsroman’) entitled “We Think You’re Old Enough To Know.”

Those assuming the O’Bryant exam school is only for math and science geeks need to think again—this project portrays a much more well-rounded curriculum. If you’re curious to see for yourself, some of the students involved will present their work at the book release celebration, complete with author signing, on the evening of Wednesday, June 8, at Hibernian Hall. After that, “We Think You’re Old Enough to Know” will be sold online and at the Harvard Book Store in Harvard Square, Cambridge.

Make no mistake: we’re not talking about a few Xeroxed and stapled booklets or a homemade effort on a binding machine – this is an artfully packaged, press-printed volume of stories, complete with an amusing forward from comedic actor Steve Carell. The kids involved can thank a program called 826Boston, the international design firm Continuum and Honors English teacher Ian Doreian for guidance and assistance. But mostly they can smile proudly knowing that they created something singular and special, in and of themselves.

“Think of it as a celebration of the stories," Doriean said, "and of us.”

8-2-Who?

Located in Roxbury’s Egleston Square, 826Boston is a nonprofit organization dedicated not only to teaching creative and expository writing to students’ ages 6-18, but also to helping teachers inspire their students to write.

Since its inception in 2007, 826Boston has delivered one-on-one writing support to over 4,500 Boston Public School students and published student writing in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and in numerous original publications.

Finding the Right Leader

“When they asked me who I wanted to publish with this year, I said Mr. Doreian right away,” 826Boston’s Lindsey Plait Jones said. “We bring the students together with tutors and our publishing program, but there needs to be a vision for the actual content."

Doreian introduced the students to the writing of authors he felt could help shape their understanding of the form, to give them a context from which to develop their own stories, many of which have turned out to be autobiographical.

“We focused our opening months on the coming-of-age story,” Doriean said. “The stories provided a great introduction to some master authors: Gary Soto, Gish Jen, Sherman Alexie, Junot Diaz and Dorothy Allison among others. In reading their work, we modeled our own writing after a narrative technique or plot device found in the story. In learning from the masters, we gained tools to tell our own stories.”

Working from a list of five specific sub-topics, the group wrote a different tale under each one. The 826Boston tutoring team helped the kids, most either 15 or 16 years old, to choose the best from their efforts and then ready the selected story for publishing.

“The book publishing project inspired me to make creative fiction an integral part of our classroom,” Doriean said. “This is important since it enables us to have a shared language when talking about stories."

What We’ve Learned

Before the compilation went to press—an event overseen by Continuum, which supplied the accompanying illustrations, plus a $16,000 grant from Sappi paper company’s “Ideas That Matter” program—the tutors from 826Boston helped the students learn to make better editorial decisions so that their stories could achieve maximum impact, whether amusing, heartbreaking or a little of both.

“It was really interesting to see my story develop from the beginning and then become more condensed,” said student Shelby Shipley. “My tutor was very helpful. He made suggestions as we went along and showed me how some things could sound better when they get said a certain way.”

Of the students we spoke with, most acknowledged having the toughest time crafting an ending.

“I got help from my tutor about how to end my story which I was having trouble with,” Kela Dragoti.

Sairanny Rodriguez agreed.

“My ending was a problem also – at first it didn’t fit very well with the rest of my story.”

“Each time we met with Mr. Doreian we learned more about how to change the point of view,” Shipley added. “He also helped us understand how just adding or taking out one word can change the whole feel of a story.”

Plait Jones described Doreian's students as an "honest hard-working, charismatic bunch," who were eager for feedback on their writing.

“Bringing this book to life has been a joyful process because of the good hearts of all involved, starting with Ian and his classes," she said.

"We Think You're Old Enough to Know" Book Release Celebration, Reading and Author Signing  - Wednesday, June 8 at 7 p.m. in Hibernian Hall, 184 Dudley Street. The event is free and open to the public and books will be available for purchase. Call (617) 442-5400 for additional information.