When 8-year-old Noah Baker purchased Ghost of Nighthawk at a Young Author's conference, the author had no idea how excited and inspired this young reader and writer would become. Calamity Jan didn't know he would order more books and do some research of his own, visiting three of the ghost towns in The Ghostowners History-Mystery Series. According to his parents, "Noah was really making connections to what you had written and described, with what he was seeing."
It's what a children's author dreams of.
It's what hard-working educators are about when they organize, plan and implement a Young Authors conference. In March of 2007, the Northwest Educational Service District ( NWESD 189) worked hard to bring more than 1,500 students from five counties together and Noah, from Chain Lake Elementary, Snohomish Washington, happened to be one of them.
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First stop: Gold Hill, Nevada. Noah discovered and photographed a huge band of wild mustangs grazing on the hillside. Could one of them be the legendary Haunted Horse of Gold Hill who is rumored to still roam the hills and circle the tombstone? He wondered about a lot of things as he and his family explored old cemeteries, panned for gold and took a tour through a mine near Gold Hill. These wild mustangs, old mines and crumbling shacks made the story he held in his hand seem more real. Each night his parents would have him and his brother Josh write something about what they did that day. This was not a school assignment, but when they got back and turned it in, the teachers ended up loving it and didn't give them any extra work when they got back from missing a week of school! |
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Second stop: Bodie, California. Holding the book with the legendary title taken from the pages of history, Noah stands in front of the old house shown on the cover of Goodbye God, I'm Going to Bodie. In spite of the wild dust storm and biting bugs on the rampage, he loved this ghost town the most and hopes to go back for another visit. Maybe next time he'll do some research on a story of his own?
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Third Stop: Nighthawk, Washington. Noah stands in front of the Nighthawk Hotel where the central character finds a clue to the buried treasure in the Ghost of Nighthawk. Noah can't get into the hotel because it has a "No Trespassing" sign now, but it doesn't matter because he has already read the book and knows what Meggie, Paige and Jay Paul Leeburg found near the Nighthawk Mine! Noah also knows he is beginning to find some of his own treasures in the book he holds in his hand. One of those treasures is discovering that history and mysteries are exciting. |
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Fourth Stop: Shaniko, Oregon. Jan: We had a great time in the town, but experienced some high, blustering winds. We're so glad we packed thick jackets. Some of the the shops looked well kept, but were closed for the season. Only the jail and self-guided museum were unlocked.
Noah reread Shadow of Shaniko on the drive down and acted as our tour guide through Shaniko's streets and alleyways. Your writing has inspired Noah and provided our family some rich memories. |
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Also available at www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, borders.com, and in most bookstores
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