Thirteen year old David Maes wowed author Matt de la Peña recently when he interviewed him on his recent award-winning books, Mexican Whiteboy and We Were Here.
A 7th grader at Northwest Denver's Skinner Middle School, David is the oldest of four children in a family that has lived in the neighborhood for generations.
Skinner language arts teacher Lisa Simms told the avid reader about a Colorado Library Teachers Association project focusing on young adult literature. When David found out he would have the opportunity to interview author de la Peña, he jumped at the chance.
"I knew David would do a wonderful job of interviewing the Matt de la Peña," said Simms, his language arts teacher. "He is a thoughtful reader and always has probing questions in class."
Author and reader met at the Tivoli Student Union on the Auraria campus to discuss books, the craft of writing and character development. David focused especially on one of his favorite books, Mexican Whiteboy, a tale of a boy finding his identity while growing up mixed race in Southern California; de la Peña was interested in David's reaction to the characters he had created.
"Meeting a famous author was really cool," David reports. "It's interesting to find out what a writer thinks about his own story and characters. It seems like he uses his own experiences and people he knows for his books. I also enjoy reading books that I can relate to."
A podcast of David's interview with de la Peña is posted at the Denver Public Library teen site: http://teens.denverlibrary.org/media/pena.htm.
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