Which exam questions on the debut novel Nach vorn, nach Süden will appear in this year’s Realschul or Hauptschul leaving examinations in Baden-Württemberg? Sarah Jäger cannot answer that either when she gives her reading at the Johannes-Brenz-Gemeinschaftsschule on 15 January 2024. But she knows her way around the 2020 young adult novel – after all, she wrote it.
\n \nInstead, the author from North Rhine-Westphalia will introduce her book to the pupils who are about to finish school, read out individual passages, explain scenes and show clips from the Theater Heilbronn stage adaptation by Nicole Buhr and Sarah Speiser. For three quarters of an hour, the young people will have the chance to once again put themselves in the shoes of the same-aged characters Can, Marie, Otto and Lena and travel south with them to find the missing Jo.
\n \nIn a second part, the pupils can ask questions, which allows them to deepen their knowledge of the book and get to know the job of an author.
\n \nThe reading was initiated by Kathleen Uttrodt, a teacher at the Johannes-Brenz-Gemeinschaftsschule. The costs were covered by the Kulturbüro of the City of Schwäbisch Hall, the city library and, in part, the Johannes-Brenz-Gemeinschaftsschule and the Schulzentrum Ost. The on-site organisation was taken care of by Dorothea Lebrecht from the city library.
\n \nWhen asked why she wrote the book, Sarah Jäger replied: „I didn’t want to convey anything profound. My main concern was that people should enjoy reading and be able to savour the summer feeling of the story“.
\n \nShe certainly lived up to this aim in the reading. With snow in front of the school building, the summer feeling didn’t quite want to set in, but there was definitely plenty of fun in listening to her.
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