Kern Valley Students Become Published Authors for Dickens Day of Writing

On a seemingly ordinary February morning in Lake Isabella, the library of Kern Valley High School buzzed with activity that was anything but ordinary — high school seniors studying literature, learning a Victorian ballroom dance, and becoming published authors.

“It’s surreal,” said senior Ella Mauer. “To be a published author before I graduate high school is something for the ages. My kids will be hearing me brag about it for sure.”

It’s all part of the annual Dickens Day of Writing, an academic celebration held in honor of Charles Dickens’ birthday. The event is the vision of The Dickens Project, an international consortium based at UC Santa Cruz devoted to the study and promotion of Dickens’ writing and various Victorian texts.

Kern Valley High English teacher Ray Crosby, whose passion for Dickens stretches back to his own childhood, became deeply involved with The Dickens Project and decided to bring the Dickens Day of Writing to his honors literature class. Crosby fell in love with Dickens as a fourth grader after asking a librarian for something challenging and being handed Great Expectations. That early spark turned into a lifelong devotion.

“My grandmother saw me reading Great Expectations and gave me her copy of David Copperfield — the same one she had read to my mom and my aunts and uncles,” Crosby said. “With those two reads, it really began this great friendship with Dickens.”

Traditionally held at UC Santa Cruz, the Dickens Day of Writing brings high school students together to read a short Dickens text, discuss it, write essays, and revise their work with the help of faculty mentors. The finished essays are then published in a bound volume, ensuring high schoolers can become published authors before they graduate.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the program expanded into satellite locations, opening the door for Kern Valley High School to become one of only a handful of sites nationwide. Crosby hosted the school’s first Dickens Day of Writing last year, adapting the format for a remote campus by using Zoom mentors and recorded feedback.

“It’s difficult to bring a bunch of mentors all the way out to Lake Isabella on one day for this event, so we had to change it up a little,” Crosby said.

Despite the dense, sometimes difficult nature of Dickens’ style and the more than 150 years separating students from the material, Crosby says there are many commonalities between his community and the characters of Dickens’ novels.

“These characters seem to come from nowhere: orphans, noble peasants, street urchins, and they find themselves wanting more and fighting for more than the station they were born into,” he said. “That’s something that a lot of our kids here at Kern Valley can relate to.”

This year, students read the opening chapter of Dickens’ novel Bleak House, reflecting on its themes and holding a group discussion with a guest lecturer via Zoom. Then students broke off to write either an analytical essay that dives deep into Bleak House’s themes and structure, or a personal narrative essay about a place in their own life written in Dickens’s descriptive, cinematic style.

“I think it gets us into critical thinking,” said senior Miliana Barraza. “The creative essay also gets us thinking about parts of your life that maybe impacted you more than you realized.”

Crosby carefully paired students with mentors — college professors, graduate students, and scholars from institutions across the nation — to discuss, revise, and polish the essays before submitting them for publication. Crosby made sure to match students not just by academic interests but also by life experiences.

“I wanted people who could help them with their essays, but it was really something much deeper,” Crosby explained. “I wanted people who could help them as life mentors as well as writing mentors, and I wanted them to cultivate relationships with the student.”

But the day didn’t end with writing. In the spirit of Dickens’ focus on community, Crosby incorporated a service component by inviting the school’s special education class to join the event. The seniors paired up with the students to read children’s adaptations of Dickens stories together. For senior Elli Jeans, it was important to spend time with the students and hopefully spark a love of books.

“I’ve been a teacher’s aide for the special ed class, and I love them all, so I think it’s really cool to read to them and to have them involved in this literature in some type of way,” she said.

A Victorian ballroom dance lesson served as the finale for the Dickens Day of Writing, encouraging all the students to try Sir Roger de Coverley, a lively 18th-century English country dance frequently mentioned in the literature of the time.

“I love dancing, so I’m very excited for that part,” Mauer said.

Kern Valley High School serves about 450 students in a community that Crosby describes as rural, economically challenged, and resilient. The area has been hit hard by wildfires, floods, and the opioid epidemic, and college has not always felt like an accessible or expected path. Crosby hopes the Dickens Day of Writing proves to his students that they belong in academic spaces, that their voices matter, and that the world ahead is wider than they may have imagined.

“Some of our kids up here at Kern Valley don’t always know that some of these opportunities exist, so being able to expose, especially this group, it means a lot,” Crosby said. “Hopefully, an event like this helps them see some of the possibilities that are out there for them.”

Barraza said the experience has opened her eyes and will hopefully inspire other students to reach for something greater.

“I think it helps the kids in this community realize: I can go places. I can do bigger things,” she said.  

Mauer agreed, saying she couldn’t imagine doing something like this before taking Mr. Crosby’s literature class.

“We’re getting such a unique experience that I’m sure most kids do not get,” Mauer said. “I’m very thankful to Mr. Crosby and everyone who helps make this happen, because I’m so excited for the experience.”

Students have until the end of the month to meet with their mentors, workshop their revisions, and submit their essays to the Dickens Project, which will then be published in a bound copy and given to each student.

“That’s life-changing for a lot of them,” Crosby said. “They can keep it on their bookshelves forever and know that they’re a published author.”