BOOK NOTES

Discovering Taffeta Chime

By: Joan Ruddiman
   A common perception of kids and summer is that the hazy, lazy days were invented for kids out-of-school. However, summer for some kids is a time of intense work. These kids are writers and as such, they take full advantage of what all writers need — time to write.
   I met one such writer in June at the Future Problem Solving International Competition held at Colorado State University. Taffeta Chime is the pen name taken by an energetic, articulate teen who has been a noted writer since she was ten when she won the first of several major awards through the FPS International Scenario writing contest.
   Paul Torrance founded Future Problem Solving International over 40 years ago. Professor Torrance was dismayed with the lack of creative thinking he saw in his students at the University of Georgia. They could sure answer test questions and give back whatever was printed in the textbooks or presented in lectures, but were at a loss when asked to creatively apply their knowledge in real-world situations.
   Mr. Torrance, who was notable in the field of gifted education, designed the FPS program to entice students from grades 4 through 12 to work collaboratively in competitive teams to apply current research on world issues to hypothetical situations set 30 to 50 years in the future.
   In the past several years, students have grappled with topics such as climate changes, care of the elderly, "cashless" societies, and education funded through charitable giving. Another venue of the FPS program is Scenario Writing that offers students, like Taffy who love to write, a specific audience and purpose. These students, working individually to write a short story (1500 words maximum) that is set in the future. The "scenario" must relate to one of the annual FPS topics.
   The scenarios are judged at the state level with the top two in each age division (Junior is 4th through 6th-grade; Middle is 7th through 9th-grade; and Senior is 10th through 12th-grade) going to the international competition. FPS truly is an international program. Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and China are among the nations that are very active along with 40 states from the USA.
   Ms. Chime took first place at the international level in 4th-grade and was hooked. She has competed in the Scenario Writing Competition each year, achieving top honors all but one year. This year she was again a presence at the International Competition as a finalist — fourth place in Senior Division — but was also introduced to the assembly of scenario writers as a recently published author.
   "Stoodie" (Broken Oak Publishing, 2007), is a novel based on Ms. Chime’s "favorite scenario, and the only one that never advanced in competition."
   She says, "I love a story that seems believable … ("Stoodie" has) a basic conflict (overcoming adversity) with an important message (creativity is a gift) and a science-fiction twist."
   Students who shared the novel with me did appreciate the story line. Amai Sasayaku is a 13-year-old girl who lives in a future world where schools are obsolete. All knowledge is downloaded into a child’s brain as they sleep from the TUTOR — a Torrance Universal Teaching Overnight Recitator (a humorous nod to Paul Torrance, the founder of FPS).
   Though children are free to play unfettered by any academic responsibilities, they are held accountable for learning through periodic tests.
   Amai is not performing at acceptable levels on her TUTOR tests and fears having to go to Traditional School to learn the old-fashioned way. Amai is terrified of the degradation of being labeled a "stoodie" — one who has to study to learn.
   For those who listen to the "I’m bored" complaints by mid-summer, the question is how do these kids in Amai’s world stay entertained and busy without school as a structuring force?
   Ironically, Amai, her brother and other children discover a virtual world that is more demanding and exhausting than anything they could experience in the real world of school. Ms. Chime moves her characters between the worlds of "Largesse, the Great Gift Planet" and their home, building the conflict that eventually takes Amai into a whole new dimension — school.
   Any preconceptions about Ms. Chime based on her book are adjusted in conversation with her. She maintains she is just a typical teen, which is accurate if "gifted" is added to the description.
   She graduated this spring from her local high school in Tennessee where she played tennis, was in the drum line with the band and valedictorian of her class.
   She was fortunate to have support from her parents and her school who encouraged her to participate in an independent study program in creative writing outside of her high school. Her FPS coach, "who was also the county director of the gifted program," helped tailor a writing class to Ms. Chime’s talents.
   "Among the assignments such as doing an extra assignment in every English class and reading various books on writing, my main objective was to write a novel through high school and begin the steps toward publication by graduation," Ms. Chime says.
   She met her goals and beyond. With the support of her parents, both in the field of media (music and television engineer), Ms. Chime contacted a print on demand (POD) syndicate that supported her work and ultimately published the book with an imprint established by her parents.
   Now her goal "is to sell 10,000 copies." Ms. Chime explained that Lightning Source Industries like most POD companies, print a limited run and then "the book is open for other publishing houses to take it over."
   This is not as farfetched at it might seem. The hero of POD publishing is Christopher Paolini, who at age 15 wrote his first book. "Eragon: Inheritance, Book 1" (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2004) has gone way beyond his POD’s 10,000 copy initial run and is now popular series with a lucrative movie tie-in to boot.
   When asked how a girl from generations of Tennessee stock created a character of Japanese heritage, Ms. Chime explains that when she first wrote "Stoodie" in 7th-grade "I was very interested in Japanese culture." This included anime and manga, which are animation and comic forms that continue to attract the attention of middle school kids.
   Then in her junior year, when the book was well underway, "a Japanese foreign exchange student, Yuna, came to my school. We soon became best friends."
   With the help of Yuna, Ms. Chime infused "a lot of phrases and cultural aspects" into the book and "she gave me some insight as to how the Japanese characters might act."
   Much like her characters in the book, Ms. Chime and Yuna found common ground in their struggles.
   "Our friendship actually began with a deal: I would help her with English and American history if she would help me with Japanese and calculus."
   Ms. Chime is off to college to major in English and minor in — no surprise — creative writing. Also unsurprisingly, she is attending with a full scholarship that provides "the opportunity to take extra classes and serve as an ambassador for the Honors College," she explains.
   Another novel is in the works, which is based on the very first Scenario that took first place in the FPS International Competition years ago and launched her life as a writer.
   "Stoodie" stands alone as a good book for young adult readers. The story behind the story is in itself an interesting look inside the mind and spirit of a gifted teen.
   Taffeta Chime is a name worth remembering.
   
Joan Ruddiman, Ed.D., is a teacher and friend of the Allentown Public Library.