Mentoring Brilliant Minds

Today was the culmination of my mentorship through the Vancouver School Board. I'd found that the VSB had this program when I was looking at teaching a night class in bellydance.

I remember writing when I was about twelve. Some bad poems and maybe a few good ones,which I still have. I was far enough ahead by high school (grades 10-12 in Alberta) that I was allowed to take a Communications class instead of Shakespeare (Yay!). It consisted of writing mostly, creative writing. Poems, stories, novels. Like my mentee who was twelve when we started,I began to write a novel, all by hand. This was before computers, just barely, but they were expensive and big then.

I still have that early, partially written novel. It would probably equal about fifty pages. Growing up on Ray Bradbury, Edgar Allen Poe, Frank Herbert and Robert Heinlien, there was a healthy dose of the Most Dangerous Game in my book. Though I don't think I got that far into the story.

My mentee, Diana, was inspired partially by Harry Potter. It's this generation's answer to Lord of the Rings, not that they don't love that story too. When we started, her writing was already at university level with a few problems that many first writers do. She had about 100 pages of a fantasy novel. We worked through some exercises and eventually she decided to concentrate on a new book that was about two girls emailing each other in different countries, as part of their school project.

Through this project I learned how savvy thirteen-year-olds are. You get removed by more than a few years and you forget. Great insights, adult minds and the great adventures of moving into adulthood. I was impressed and Diana made me think of scope again, in people and in writing. And I mentored because if my class had gone farther in high school and I'd had more support, at home, and from teachers, I probably would have fostered ahead much faster. If I can help some kids and steer them a little closer to their dreams, why not? Everyone should have dreams and reach for them.

At the mentorship ceremony today they said there were 95 kids throughout the Vancouver schools and 77 mentors (some mentors took more than one kid). I watched these little blooming stars as young as six do amazing things. A seven-year-old girl sing like a Broadway star. A boy of equally young age, play like Mozart. Writers, sculptors, chemists, computer programmers, and many other interests. The kids were amazing. Of course they're the most gifted in their subjects but I think they all truly were thrilled that they had mentors. And the mentors ranged from just out of high school to grandmothers.

Diana gave me a very sweet card with flowers and chocolates, and each kid got up with their mentor to say what they liked about the program and their mentors. It was very touching. It was a time investment but it's a nice feeling to nurture, especially if you don't have a child. Even if you do, someone who can guide who shares their passion.

I'll have to see how time works out next year and whether I'll mentor again. I told Diana I'm still here to help her with her book (she'd like to have it at a publisher's by the time she's fourteen). But it was most gratifying seeing the end projects and the bright stars who have yet to hit supernova.

Suggestions for a Reading List

I've been mentoring a 12-year-old girl through the Vancouver School Board. This is in writing and specifically fantasy writing. There are a fair number of kids who are needing mentors in writing and more in the SF and speculative fields. If anyone is interested in mentoring you can always look it up on the internet.

However, I'm trying to give her a list of fiction books to read that would expand her knowledge of the field. Her writing style is quite good and her grammar and sentence structure is better than mine was at twenty. By the time she's in Grade 10 she will also be doing some university level courses, and she wants to become a professional writer.

So far, she's enamored with the Harry Potter series and wrote half a novel about some kids searching for the stealer of some dragon eggs. So she likes magic and dragons.

I think back to when I was 12 and I was starting to write then myself. My older brother had moved out and left a lot of his books behind so I was reading Heinlein and Herbert then, plus John Christopher. I was also reading Bradbury and Poe; perhaps that's why I am the way I am today.

But here I am, trying to compile a list and finding my shelf doesn't always hold those earlier books. I want to give her some classics and some new stuff, (both SF and fantasy) but books that represent the range in the field, keeping in mind that something like China Mieville's books may be a little too sophisticated for her for a few years. She's still reading a lot of young adult books but I know she has the capacity to read more complex tales than that, just by the style of her writing.

If you have any suggestions of books to add to this list, I'd love to hear them.