Inspiring Kids Through Science Fiction (Andrew M. Nehring)

Science Fiction is a fun and exciting genre that brings the most creative responses out of both adults and children. By exposing children to reading early in life, it begins to spark that creativity that will continue until adult hood and beyond. Reading allows people to experience places, people and things that they may next experience in their everyday life. Science Fiction goes even beyond that. Science Fiction gives people ideas that are out of this world and maybe outside of the scope of what humans have accomplished thus far. However, by exposing people to science fiction, you’re allowing people to dream of things that someone might not have ever thought about and those thoughts and extraordinary inventions that these kids read about, might lead to the next advancements in human technology.

 

As someone who has dyslexia, growing up Science Fiction was an escape for me. In school, I struggled with reading comprehension and as a result I had hesitation towards books and reading in front of the class for fear of being laughed at for reading badly among a long list of others. Where my journey becomes unique to me, is the fact that I have auditory and photographic memory. This allowed me to memorize everything in terms of words and sentences, so when I read, I gave the impression of having solid reading skills. In reality, I had no idea what I was saying and my comprehension was so low that teachers actually believed I was faking my disability and doubting that I had dyslexia. Most of my teachers thought that I was faking it and that I was just lazy. After a lot of hard work, I was able to get my reading comprehension to that of my grade level peers, but I was still overwhelmed by the idea of reading long and daunting books. This is why I make my books the way I do. I make my books fun and non-daunting in length (150 pages or so), that are fast to read. These are exactly the books I would have reached for in my youth! This is why I think it is so important to have these types of fun, fast paced accessible books for middle schoolers to really ignite the passion for reading for them. They would read the first David Massie, finish it quickly and jump to the next installment. As a dyslexic author it is very important to me that I make books that keep kids excited about reading and to help their imagination grow, but it is also extremely important to me that I help break the stigma around dyslexia and help encourage others who are like me to follow their dreams.

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Andrew M. Nehring is the author of David Massie as well as The Corrupted Light Chronicles. Growing up, he was always a very imaginative child who would tend to get lost in these worlds he created for himself. That passion for creativity never stopped. The concept of David Massie came to him after years of being an avid fan of science-fiction. This world that he created draws from both old and new sci-fi concepts. 

Andrew has recently graduated from Northeastern Illinois University in the beautiful city of Chicago.  Now that he has graduated, he is focused on expanding the worlds of David Massie and also The Corrupted Light Chronicles. For more info, visit andrewmnehring.com.

Follow Andrew M. Nehring on Twitter: @NehringAndrew