Victoria Richard, 3, daughter of Hank and Tina Richard of Adams Township, listens intently at Mars Public Library as eighth-grade Mars Middle School students read books they wrote and illustrated.

Madison Burtner received a somewhat unusual gift last Christmas: Twenty sheets of paper and assorted colored markers, which, if used according to plan, would be transformed into professionally printed books containing Madison's fiction.

"I couldn't pass it up," said Madison's mother Jeanine of Cabot, referencing the intrinsic gift for stories her daughter already possessed.

Showing writing samples from Madison's' preschool years, Jeanine needed two hands to lift up a stack of packets, made with colored construction paper and held together with staples.

Madison, now 11, said many of the stories — which centered on Twicle and Squeakas, twin mice in Mouseville, Maryland — evolved from creative play at a younger age. She and friends would act out scenarios while portraying the mischievous mice.

"It's kind of funny, because she was the writer, and she was the director," Jeanine said.

After a brief loss of interest after third grade, Madison continued the stories on paper.

Now a fifth-grade student at St. Luke Lutheran School, Madison is among a group of youths who point to writing as their professed career.

"It's just fun," Madison said. "And I like to draw the cartoons."

<table width="300" height="275" border="0" align="right" valign="top" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><embed src="/assets/mov/BE4511753.MOV" width="320" height="250" autostart="true" loop="false" ></embed></td></tr><tr><td align="center"><a href="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/" target="_blank"><span class="style11">Requires Quicktime Media Player </a><br><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Times New Roman">Video by Brandon Gerthoffer</font></span><td></tr></table>Haley Maskrey is another youth who plans to pursue a writing career."It's what I've been aiming at since the third or fourth grade," said Haley, a student at Seneca Valley Intermediate High School.At 14, Haley is already crafting what she hopes will become a full-length novel.The story centers around an evil race of shape-shifters trying to dominate the world. The other races — humans, angels, vampires and werewolves —unite out of necessity to avert the threat. Meanwhile, they await a girl savior long prophesied in legends."It's all fantasy characters and fantasy beings," Haley said. "I'm planning to add some action and some mystery and some romance."Despite the story's primitive components, Haley makes use of contemporary tools to help improve her craft. Using the FanFiction.net Web site, Haley can post installments, then read the reader critiques."FanFiction is basically the way I learned to make my stories longer," she said of the site, also a forum for those interested in comics, games and other forms of entertainment.In addition to garnering feedback from anonymous readers in cyber space, Haley gets input closer to home. Her English teacher, Gary Watkins, has been editing the novel, which at close to 100 pages he estimates to be a third complete."It's very, very creative," said Watkins, an English teacher since 1977."She's created sort of a Tolkienesque sort of world. ... She's set rules for the world she has created, and she has followed those rules. She has done an excellent job of planning it. She even has a complete glossary of the characters and what all the names mean," he said.Although Haley's ambition exceeds that of many students her age, Watkins has witnessed increasing interest in literacy over the last few years."I've seen a greater interest in reading, especially in reading different types of books," he said. "They're not reading just fantasies, and they're not reading just romances. It's a variety of material. This year, I've had more students that actually admitted to liking 'A Tale of Two Cities' than I've had in the past.""If you'd asked me this four years ago, I would have said students don't read much at all anymore," Watkins said, adding he's unsure if recent groups reflect a fluke or a changing trend.Either way, reading and writing form a positive link."The students that read more are invariably the students that write more — or that write better with more control," he said.

Although Mars Middle School teacher Katy Kasten sees no changing trends among her students, the teacher of 20 years takes a proactive approach when it comes to writing.When a six-week creative writing block was displaced by computer education classes in recent years, Kasten and two of her peers decided to offer writing opportunities in other ways.Working with Greg Wilson and Becky Monhemius, also language arts teachers at Mars, Kasten integrated creative writing into the eighth-grade short story curriculum, which already included story structure.As part of their studies, students were asked to write children's stories. Some were then presented aloud at primary schools, preschools and the Mars Public Library."Kids were very receptive to this project, I will say that," Kasten said, describing a writing genre less apt to intimidate fearful writers. "For the kids who are the non-writers, it was non-threatening because it was a children's book."As well as offering a creative outlet, Kasten said writing gave the students a different way to grasp the elements they were asked to recognize in stories.

"Writing the children's story was the application of everything we had talked about: story structure, vocabulary," she said. "It proved to us more than a test would — or in a different way than a test would — that the kids understood the concepts."As a result of that exercise, 39 eighth graders read the stories aloud to young children, then hosted craft activities to compliment their story's theme.Three of those students, Garrett White, Ivy Kuhrman and Kaley Kuntz, were featured at the Mars Library during a recent afternoon storytime.Garrett's book, "Off the Bed," told the story of a dust bunny named Puffy.Ivy's story "Tip" recounted a young girl's reluctance to part with a stuffed bear before she entered kindergarten."Squirrels Don't Swim," authored and read aloud by Kaley, showed how Sammy the squirrel realized he possessed special talents even though he could not compete at swimming with his friend, a turtle."When they got back on the bus (to return to school) they were so excited. They said 'I want to do it again,'" said Kasten of all the student readers. "For the kids that got to go, it helped their public speaking; it helped their presentation. They go to be teacher for a day.""I think anytime that the younger kids have the opportunity to work with the older students, you definitely see advantages," she said. "I think the little ones want to emulate."

While Mars Middle School writers might be inspiring their preschool audience, students at Grove City College have adopted a similar mission for students in kindergarten through eighth grade.The college recently hosted its 10th annual Awarding Awesome Authors program, open to those attending elementary schools where GCC student teachers are posted.Hosted by the Grove City College Education Department and education honorary Kappa Delta Pi, the program accepts submissions from students, selecting two Awesome Authors from each participating classroom.Stories by those children are then published in a book and presented to winners during a ceremony on campus, where they receive additional small prizes like bookmarks and pencils.During the ceremony, one student from each grade level also is named as an overall winner.According to Sandra Herald, curriculum library director at GCC, this year's event had more than 200 entries from nine school districts. Ninety-four winners were named from kindergarten through third grade.A separate event is held in the fall for students in fourth through eighth grades."Originally it was one contest, and it was only the local schools," Herald said, explaining the program was expanded to include seventh and eighth grade as part of the division.

"It's evident that the students are excited about it, because each time I have the contest, it grows."Morgan Malinski, a first grader at Moraine Elementary School, was among this year's participants, earning the overall first grade award for her story, "The Horse and the Girl.""When I went behind my coat to get my backpack, I stuck my head in my coat and went 'Eep!'" said Morgan, describing a happy response to the news her story would be included.Morgan's friend and classmate, Morgan Waag, also was named an Awesome Author for her story "Super Guinea Pig." Both stories were submitted through their teacher, Cynthia Thompson.Neither Morgan nor her parents, Frank and Tracy Malinski of Prospect, knew she would receive the overall award until her name was announced during the ceremony."They didn't tell her, and they didn't tell us," Frank Malinski said. "Of course, we were both sticking our chests out."Morgan said another perk was sharing her story at school afterward."I sat and read my story to the whole class in the library," she said. "The principal came in, and I gave him a high five."

Madison Burtner of Cabot proudly presents "Abandon Sink!" after reading it to some of her fans at the Saxonburg Public Library.

Ivy Kuhrman, an eighth grader from Mars Middle School, reads to children at Mars Public Library from a book she wrote and illustrated.

Morgan Malinski, 7, daughter of Frank and Tracy Malinski of Prospect and a first grader at Moraine Elementary School, works on an illustration for a story.

Garrett White was one of three selected eighth-grade students at Mars Middle School who read to children at Mars Public Library. Garrett’s book, titled “Off the Bed,” tells the story of a dust bunny named Puffy.