By Jennifer Nation

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• By Jennifer Nation

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A Little Bit about Mr. Mikaelsen

• Born and raised in Bolivia
• Made fun of for skin color and started writing
  down his pain in a journal
• First language was Spanish
• Started writing poetry at age 10
• Graduated from Bemidji State College in Minnesota
  with a degree in Industrial Arts Education

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Continued

• Started writing professionally in 1984, took 6
  years to get his first book published
• Extremely into adventure
• Favorite authors are Will Hobbs, Paul Pitts, Gary
  Paulson
• Wrote books on the outdoors
• Currently lives in Bozeman, Montana with his wife
  and pet bear

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Books

• Rescue Josh Maguire-1991
• Possibly will be made into a movie
• Stranded-1995
• Countdown-1996
• Sparrow Hawk Red-1996
• Petey-1998
• Touching Spirit Bear-2002
• Red Midnight-2003

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Awards

• Rescue Josh Maguire
• International Reading Association Award
• Western Writers Spur Award
• Won 10 major awards and was nominated for 35
  others
• Illinois Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Book
  Nominee for Petey and Stranded

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Themes

• Perseverance
• Understanding Differences
• Compassion for Everything
• Attempt to make the world better

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Appeal to Middle School Students

• Raised bear
• Has been on Jack Hannahs Animal Adventures
• Swam with dolphins
• Lived with the homeless
• Went undercover with Drug Enforcement Agents in
  Africa

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Presentations to Schools

• Becoming the Author of your own Life
• Recounts story of his turmoil becoming a writer
• Goal is to motivate students to read and write on
  their own
• Writing is Storytelling
• Teaches the art of storytelling
• Goal is to have students come away with methods
  to create a stronger story

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Appeal to Teachers

• Working with At-Risk Students
• Addresses the difficulty of being a student with
  English as a second language
• Experienced rigid class discipline
• Positive Teaching Methods
• How can we create positive students in a negative
  world?
• What are we teaching? Why do we teach it?
• Encourage students to become the author of their
  own lives

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Writing Tips

• Write about things that you know and interest you
• Write about things that give you strong emotions
• Pretend that the reader has no ears, eyes, or
  sense of smell
• Get ideas from
• Past experiences
• Asking questions and research
• Most importantlyyour imagination

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Final Thought

• "Writing is storytelling and all of us are
  authors, not just of words but of reality. You
  are the author of your life, so go out and live!
  Then never quit writing about it!"Ben