In anticipation of a predictably hectic Advanced Placement (AP) season, James Auld, NC’s magnet coordinator, urged his staff to find an outlet for their academic stresses. While the science teachers decided to create elephant toothpaste, the language arts teachers of the NC Magnet Program decided to contribute their skill sets to a potentially profitable endeavor: a novel. Pulling from the worlds of romance, sci-fi and historical fiction, this newly established band of authors collaborated on their first iteration of a long-form series called, “A Nuclear Plight for Love.”
The conglomeration of co-authors— AP Research teacher Elizabeth Jamison, magnet American Literature teacher Alexandra Yeganegi, ninth-grade literature teacher Laura Smith, AP Literature teachers Cathie Lawson and Rebecca Zavala and sophomore bundle teachers Krista Wilson and Brooke Payne— wanted the first book released from their hopeful series to truly capture the feelings represented by magnet students during AP season. Hunger, anguish, despair and helplessness capture common traits exhibited throughout the perils of the final grading periods during sophomore and junior years, and this band of authors truly aimed to capture that essence through their debut novel.
Set in a post-apocalyptic America, the novel follows a band of four high school-aged teenagers as they set off to find their place in an unfamiliar planet JWAP. As they navigate the aftermath of a deadly war filled with toxic weapons, the main characters learn to trust their new terrain, but also one another. The novel pulls inspiration from popular works like “Harry Potter” and “Percy Jackson” as a group of misfit kids come together under unique circumstances, to restore order to find familiarity in the unknown. Despite teaching the same students year-round, the academic authors aim to show their pupils another side of themselves through their literary work.
“Through this book, we want to just show our students that we really know what we are talking about. All of us have had experience in the literature or printing worlds, so I think it’s really important for us to represent our skills and give them a tangible expression of our hard work,” Yeganegi said.
Despite the heavy workloads the teachers may face in the coming weeks, this book represents a labor of love. Through daring syntax and intrinsic world-building, “A Nuclear Plight for Love,” represents the diligent determination of a strong group of writers and women collaborating to create a beautiful product. With credence to the end of AP testing, the book’s release date stands at May 22. Check out Amazon Prime for pre-orders!
April Fools, you fool!
XOXO,
The Chant
