High School Teachers Use Giant Shark To Entice Teens to Read
West Palm Beach, FL. March 1, 2019 – Before The MEG (starring Jason Statham) was the #1 summer movie in the U.S. and the world, the novel the story was based upon was being used by reading, language arts, English, and science teachers to get their students to read. Best-selling author Steve Alten recalls the initial response he received from teens who picked up the book when it was first released back in 1997.
“I must have received hundreds of emails from students, and they all contained the same message, ‘I hated reading… until I read MEG.’ A few months later teachers began sending email, telling me how popular the book was in school. Then I learned Y.A.L.S.A. (the Young Adult Library Services Association) had chosen MEG as a Top Selection, which surprised me because I had written the book for adults, not teens. Then I remembered reading JAWS as a fifteen-year-old and how it led me to read other shark-related stories, and I realized something important was happening.”
Alten’s background is in education; he holds a Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctorate degree in education and is certified to teach in secondary school. After speaking with dozens of teachers who were using MEG in their classroom, Alten founded Adopt-an-Author, a nationwide non-profit, teen reading program offering everything teachers needed to add MEG to their curriculum.
“That was the teachers’ number one challenge – having the support materials on hand in order to include the book in their school year curriculum. It’s the reason books like The Scarlet Letter (written in 1850), The Great Gatsby (written in 1925), and The Catcher in the Rye (written in 1951), are still being used in high school today. Nothing against the classics, but which story is more likely to get a reluctant teen reader living in 2019 to read – the story of a Puritan woman conceived through an affair back in a 17th-century Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony, or a novel about a 70 foot, 50-ton prehistoric shark that escapes from its purgatory in the Mariana Trench? By registering at AdoptAnAuthor.com, teachers can download tests, quizzes, unit plans, and lots of creative activities that will fuel their students’ imaginations. There’s also a link to SteveAlten.com which offers free images as well as book and movie trailers…everything they need, and it’s all available to them at no charge.”
The MEG author also offers direct contact between himself and students via email and live Q & A sessions in the classroom after the unit has been completed. Over the last twenty years, Alten has personally visited over 100 classrooms, all on his dime. Now in his late fifties with Parkinson’s disease, Alten relies more on social media to forge a link between himself and his readers.
Alten has used part of his proceeds from the movie to update and expand the program. He also did a major edit on the novel, fine-tuning the writing on a book he had written 24 years ago, while adding more than a dozen graphic art images and a prequel.
The program remains free to all secondary school teachers, who can register at www.AdoptAnAuthor.com
Steve Alten grew up in Philadelphia, earning his Bachelors degree in Physical Education at Penn State University, a Masters Degree in Sports Medicine from the University of Delaware, and a Doctorate of Education at Temple University. Struggling to support his family of five, he decided to pen a novel he had been thinking about for years. Working late nights and on weekends, he eventually finished MEG; A Novel of Deep Terror. Steve sold his car to pay for editing fees. On September (Friday) the 13th, 1996, Steve lost his general manager’s job at a wholesale meat plant. Four days later his agent had a two-book deal with Bantam Doubleday.
MEG would go on to become the book of the 1996 Frankfurt book fair, where it eventually sold to more than a twenty countries. MEG hit every major best-seller list, including #19 on the New York Times list (#7 audio), and became a popular radio series in Japan.
Steve’s second release, The TRENCH (Meg sequel) was published by Kensington/Pinnacle in 1999 where it also hit best-seller status. His next novel, DOMAIN and its sequel, RESURRECTION were published by St. Martin’s Press/Tor Books and were runaway best-sellers in Spain, Mexico, Germany, and Italy, with the rights selling to more than a dozen countries.
Steve’s fourth novel, GOLIATH, received rave reviews and was a big hit in Germany. It is being considered for a TV series. MEG: Primal Waters was published in the summer of 2004. A year later his seventh novel, The LOCH, hit stores — a modern-day thriller about the Loch Ness Monster. Steve’s eighth novel, The SHELL GAME, is about the end of oil and the next 9/11 event. The book was another NY Times best-seller, but the stress of penning this real-life story affected Steve’s health, and three months after he finished the manuscript he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. Steve’s ninth novel, MEG: Hell’s Aquarium, is considered to be the best of the best-selling MEG series. Steve says his best novel is GRIM REAPER: End of Days. The story, a modern-day Dante’s Inferno, takes place in New York when a man-made plague strikes Manhattan. The release date was 10-10-10. His eleventh novel. PHOBOS: Mayan Fear is the third in the Domain series and will debut in the Fall of 2011 (Tor/Forge).
Steve’s novels are action-packed and very visual. He has optioned DOMAIN, MEG and The LOCH to film producers. Steve has written six original screenplays. His comedy, HARLEM SHUFFLE was a semi-finalist in the LA screenwriting contest, his psychological thriller, STRANGLEHOLD, was selected as a finalist at the Philadelphia film festival and his reality series, HOUSE OF BABEL won at Scriptapalooza. He has also created a TV Drama, PAPA JOHN, based on his years coaching basketball with hall of Fame coach John Chaney.
Over the years, Steve has been inundated with e-mail from teens who hated reading …until they read his novels. When he learned high school teachers were actually using his books in the classroom (MEG had been rated #1 book for reluctant readers) Steve launched Adopt-An-Author, a nationwide non-profit program designed to encourage students to read. Teachers who register for the program (it’s free) receive giant shark posters, free curriculum materials, student-author correspondence, an interactive website, and classroom conference calls/visits with the author. To date, over 10,000 teachers have registered, and the success rate in getting teens to read has been unprecedented. Steve now spends half his work week working with high schools. For more information click on www.AdoptAnAuthor.com
As an author, Steve has two goals. First, to continue to work hard to become a better storyteller and create exciting page turning thrillers. Second, to remain accessible to his readers. Steve reads and answers all e-mails, uses the names and descriptions of his loyal fans as characters in all his novels, and even hires readers as editors, depending on their particular expertise.
For more information, contact the author at Meg82159@aol.com
or go to www.SteveAlten.com
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Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
