In what ranged from a book signing to a five-second cartooning lesson, the Germantown and Memphis campuses welcomed two authors, Margaret Peterson Haddix and Kevin Sylvester, on Tuesday, Sept. 15.

The visit was led by librarians Mrs. Jennifer Winstead at the Germantown campus and Mrs. Catherine Denman at the Memphis campus. Before the presentations by the authors, both Haddix and Sylvester signed students’ books and talked with them one-on-one.

Haddix worked as a newspaper reporter and copy editor before publishing her first book, “Running Out of Time,” in 1995. Since then, she has published over 30 books.

To begin her presentation, Haddix talked about the different series she has written in the past, including the “Among the Hidden” books and the “Missing” series. After each, she discussed about how she got the inspiration for each series, ranging from her and her husband wondering whether or not they should have a third child, which led to the “Among the Hidden” series, to the feeling of not remembering who you are or where you’re going in the moments when you first awake on an airplane, which inspired her to write “Found,” the first in the “Missing” series.

Haddix also stressed the importance of taking everyday events and thinking critically about how they could be turned into plots for books.

“One of the things I do as an author is, anytime something fascinates me, I just automatically think, ‘Well, could I put that in a book?’” Haddix said when discussing her inspiration for the Missing series.

Sylvester is a Canadian children’s author as well as cartoonist and news broadcaster. Previously, he worked as a sportscaster on the CBC Radio station as well as four Olympic Games.

Following Haddix, Sylvester discussed his love of sports and how that has inspired many of his series, including “Sports Hall of Fame” and “Splinters.” He also talked with students about his newest book, “MiNrs,” which is a mysterious adventure novel set in a fictitious space colony.

Along with his discussion about his work as an author, he taught students how to cartoon in a “5-second cartooning lesson” and how broadcasting sports before venturing into creative writing inspired him.

“Be curious about stuff,” Sylvester said. “The world is a fasctinating place. Don’t limit yourself to just the stuff you like.”

Overall, student reception to the author visit was positive and enthusiastic.

“I liked the cartoons, how he taught us [how] to do the cartooning,” fourth-grader Julianne Hurley said. Hurley had not read books by Haddix or Sylvester beforehand, but said that she wants to following the author visit.

The event was sponsored by the Booksellers at Laurelwood, and the authors visited St. George’s on a promotional tour to middle and high schools across the United States.