Essay On Goneril In King Lear

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Recommended: HOW LITERATURE influenced

Joe Nuzzo
YAL Project
Literacy 502
11/19/2013

About the Author:

Rick Riordan is from San Antonio, TX. He worked as an English and Social Studies Teacher for about 15 years. He has written several successful book series, most notably: Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Many of Riordan's novels cover the topic of mystery or mythology.

Both of Riordan's parents were teachers and he found himself drawn to the profession. However, he did not like to read as a child and could not connect with many of the books being used in his classroom.

“I thought they were boring, I couldn't relate to them, I didn't know why people were so interested in them. So when a kid comes to me and says, "I don't like to read — yeah, I kind of understand where they're coming from.”

It wasn't until he was 11 or 12 that he found a connection with fantasy books. Years later as a teacher, he passed this passion on to his students.

“I wanted each of my kids to leave having connected with at least one book that they really loved. Not just they got through, but they really connected and they wanted to read everything that author had ever written.”

While Riordan misses his job as a teacher, he still believes his work as an author let's him connect to kids in some capacity.

“I miss having my own students and getting to know them over the course of the year and knowing their names and watching them grow up and having them coming back the next year. That's the great thing about teaching, and I miss that a lot...
...I still do a lot of school visits. I'm talking to kids all the time; I see them every week; so I still feel a little bit like a teacher just in a different capacity. And I don't have to grade the homework, so, you know, it all works out.”

Transcript from an interview with Rick Riordan | Interviews with Top Young Adult Authors | AdLit.org. Retrieved November 16, 2013 from

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