On Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2019, Molly Crosby visited White Station High School in the library to talk to 9th grade CLUE English students. Sandra Whittington, one of the CLUE English teachers at White Station High School, invited her to come and discuss her books.

Molly Crosby is the author of three nonfiction books: The American Plague, Asleep and The Great Pearl Heist. Crosby enjoys explaining her books to students and continues to visit every year. “You have to be a little creative in how you bring these stories to life,” Crosby said. 

Over the summer, students had to read either Asleep: The Forgotten Epidemic or The American Plague, which are both written by Crosby. 

Asleep: The Forgotten Epidemic is about a peculiar disease called encephalitis lethargic or sleeping sickness. Crosby had a special connection to this particular story. Her grandmother had “stayed asleep for 180 days” due to this illness.The American Plague is about another illness called yellow fever in 1793 which was taking place around the world. The story describes “the nature of human beings” and “the nature of the disease.”

Nadia Sommerville (9) enjoyed getting to listen to Crosby explained the history and process behind the books. She chose to read Asleep: The Forgotten Epidemic. “It was really interesting to see and hear a different process of research for different genres,” Sommerville said.

Crosby confessed some of the struggles she had while writing the books. “There is a lot of pressure, I think, when you’re writing about real people,” Crosby said. “I never wanted to really misrepresent any of them, so I tried to be mindful of that too.”

Crosby gave the students a quote from one of her graduate professors for starting a story. “There’s no such thing as writer’s block,” Crosby said. “There’s just a lack of research.”