LOGAN SQUARE — Expressing your fears is easier when it’s done through someone else’s voice.
That’s why the fifth-graders at Brentano Math and Science Academy in Logan Square created a monster to do the talking for them. Mark Harlan’s fifth-grade class has been working in partnership with Wicker Park-based nonprofit 826Chi to develop an encyclopedia of monsters that reflect their own individual fears and desires.
826Chi Director of Education Amanda Lichtenstein and local volunteers worked with Harlan and Principal Seth Lavin to provide the students an opportunity to express themselves and learn the creative writing skills of storyboarding and character development.
The book will be professionally bound and published this spring, with photos and author bios of each student included, thanks to 826Chi.
“This was an opportunity for students to write imaginative, creative fiction and explore the origins of fear,” Lichtenstein said in the hallways of Brentano in January. “When you look deeper at the motivations of something that’s scary, you start to understand it. Monsters teach us about our own humanity.”
Volunteer Bryce Parsons-Twesten of Logan Square said he was motivated to get involved because it lets “kids be kids.”
“Young people are just the smartest and weirdest people I know,” Parsons-Twesten said. “They’re so creative at this age, and it’s the same time the world is starting to tell them it’s not OK to be weird. When we come in and tell them to be creative you see them light up with a nonstop stream of awesome ideas.”
Just one of those ideas came from student Gimary Villatoro, whose monster was born in a cemetery and has black hair, pink skin and a blue skirt. Fellow student Amanda Vasquez’s monster dealt with some deeper issues — her monster is a ghost who haunts his mother after she abandons him.
Both students said that they learned the value of similes and metaphors through the workshops and how to tell the difference.
Student Leodan Venegas said he typically prefers reading over writing but enjoyed feeling like a “real author” during the project.
“I like reading because I can visualize things and then infer what happens next,” said Leodan, 10. “For this, we got to use our imaginations. I liked creating a character who could eventually save the world.”
Volunteer Alex Borkowski of Andersonville has been volunteering with 826Chi for a couple years and recently came on staff as its publications intern.
“I worked for a literary magazine in college and learned the ins and outs of the publication process,” Borkowski said. “It’s amazing to see these fifth-grade students work together and do the same thing.”
Now that the writing and editing portion of the project is complete, students will collaborate with local artists to illustrate the book and bring their monsters to life. The project will culminate with an author reading by the students at Printers Row Lit Fest on June 4. A community reading in the Logan Square/Avondale area is also set for this spring with details to be determined.
For more information on 826Chi's programs, visit www.826chi.org.
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