July 8, 2008
The project was organized by Mike Kearby, a Texas novelist who has authored books such as The Road to a Hanging, Ride the Desperate Trail, and Ambush at Mustang Canyon. Other schools participating in the project were Breckenridge High School, Stephenville High School, R.L. Turner High School in Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD, DeLeon High School, Trinity High School in Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD, Mineral Wells High School, Eastland High School, Bridgeport High School, and Lakeview High School in San Angelo ISD.
Kearby provided all the schools involved with a basic plot: "a ninth grade student, Bryan Holder [name later changed to Ryan Hoffman], wants to be freed from living in the shadow of his twelfth grade brother, Andy. The story will reveal and detail Bryan's tragic love-hate relationship with Andy."
“Collaborative writing was a challenge for all of us, who were accustomed to independent writing,” said GHS teacher Brent Irish. “Not only did we have to shape all our ideas into one cohesive whole, but we also had to make our chapter fit the continuity of the previous chapters written by other schools, with whom we had had no contact. My students were not always satisfied with what directions the previous schools had taken the characters, but we enjoyed creating Chapter 8 because it became the novella's climax.”
Granbury students participating in the project were Lauren Ayers, Bryant Bravo, Jaclyn Carrillo, Eva Counts, Tyler Durant, Alex Elliot, Christina Griffin, Tiffanie Jones, Alex Lombard, Jennifer Miears, Courtney Reagan, Austin Roberts, Anna Tomlin, Cathy Wesson, Holly Winters, and Travis Wright.
The book is available from Special Delivery Books in Alpine.
