FRANKLIN
When Stephen Flournoy’s sister tried to get the 16-year-old Franklin High School student to read some books by Sharon Draper, the sophomore laughed it off, preferring to stick to Rick Riordan’s “Percy Jackson” series.

However, after reading The New York Times bestselling author in the school’s book club, he wished he would have listened to her.

“She had been trying to get me to read her for several years, but I just kept putting it off,” Flournoy said. “I really wish I would not have.”

Flournoy said he was excited when he learned that the Ruth Camp-Campbell Memorial Library was able to bring Draper to Franklin for a talk with the book club. The children and young adult author started off by discussing the books the club had read, including “Panic,” “Battle of Jericho,” and the Hazelwood High trilogy, “Tears of a Tiger,” “Forged by Fire” and “Darkness before Dawn.”

Then she let them ask questions.

“That way, I could tell them what they really wanted and needed to know,” Draper said.

Several of them were potential creative writers, and she traded email addresses with them and said she’d give them advice.

“There’s always a young writer in the crowd,” Draper said. “And I try to encourage them because when I started out, people encouraged me. Of course, I was not as young as they are.”

The author was already into her career when she began her work as a published writer. The former Ohio Teacher of the Year was challenged by one of her high school students to enter her writing in a literary contest. After she submitted the short story, she was awarded $5,000 and her first publication.

“I used to be a teacher of teenagers, and I wanted to do this to help them,” she said.

Draper said she feels strongly about literary programs in high schools.

“I think it is wonderful that these are kids that love books and reading,” she said. “These are the future leaders of the world, kids like these who love to read.”

Children do love to read despite the common thought, Draper said.

“The assumption is that kids have nothing on their minds but their phones and video games,” she said. “But give them a book that they are interested in, and they will read.”

Afterward, she also signed copies of books that the children brought. Shamar Ballard, a 17-year-old senior, was the first person to get in line.

“I think her books are very insightful,” he said. “They really relate to the things that teenagers go through and social and economic issues.

“My favorite is ‘November Blues.’ It deals with the issue of teen pregnancy and was deep.”

Katie Hedgepeth, the youth services programmer at the library, is responsible for putting on the book club. She said they meet once a month, and through the Camp Foundation, they are able to give the students a copy of the next book they’ll discuss.

“It was a lot of fun,” Hedgepeth said. “The kids really enjoyed her writing. I’m glad we were able to get someone like her — it was a good fit.”

Freshman Madison Hunnings, 14, said of the books she read, her favorite is “Panic.”

“So far, I’ve read two of them, but I plan to read more,” she said. “I like them because they aren’t fantasy — it’s stuff that can really happen.”

“Panic,” which deals with the issue of teenagers being used in the sex-traffic trade, was also Flournoy’s favorite.

In the book, a well-dressed, handsome respectable looking man approaches a teenager and promises her fortunes in the movie that she would be perfect for because of her look, if only she’ll get in the car. Willingly getting in the car turned out to be the wrong decision.

“I liked it just because of the fact that it was so realistic,” Flournoy said. “When I read it, I was like, wow, this is something that could really happen. It happens all the time.”