The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Teacher writes to inspire students
Rachele Alpine has had quite a year — and it’s not even September yet.
The Perry High School 10th grade English (American Literature) teacher and young adult/middle grade fiction author recently had her third book of 2017 published. In 2018, her sixth book, “Friday Night Stage Lights,” will come out, with another work to possibly to follow.
“My agent is about to send my editor another middle grade novel that I worked on this summer, so fingers crossed that one sells,” Alpine said, who’s been teaching at Perry for 15 years.
Alpine, who teaches under her married name, Mielke, has a degree in English from Ohio University and a master’s in curriculum and instruction from Boston University. Her extensive educational experience has also contributed to her prodigious production as a writer, she explained.
“I student taught i n Costa Rica at an American International School,” she said. “I’m nationally board certified, a Martha Holden Jennings Scholar, and was awarded a Fulbright (scholarship) that allowed me to travel to Japan and learn about their school systems and culture.
“I’ve been writing my entire life. I grew up surrounded by books. Both my mom and grandma read to me constantly. When I learned how to write and found out I could create stories of my own, I never looked back. I have notebooks full of stories I wrote from all the way back to fourth grade.
“I always like to say that once I discovered YA literature, I was hooked to that genre forever,” she said. “I loved everything about it. It focuses on teenagers, but those feelings are so universal. We can all remember what it was like to be in high school, at that point where you’re not quite an adult but not a child anymore.
“Those feelings were so true to me, and I still feel that a lot of worries, fears and concerns of teenagers are the same as adults, which makes sense, because they are right on that cusp of adulthood.”
As she got older, Alpine found she wanted to read books that dealt with reallife issues, which is why she said she’s always written contemporary novels, though she admits her process regularly shifts.
“I wanted to see characters like myself in the books, oftentimes as a way to provide assurance that I wasn’t alone in what I was going through,” she said. “My YA novels definitely focus on pretty heavy topics. My first book, ‘Canary,’ is a novel whose main storyline involves a sexual assault. The process of writing a book like that was intense and at times draining, so when I finished it, I didn’t want to jump back into another YA novel.
“That’s how I found myself writing middle grade books, too. I wanted to write something f unny and lighthearted, so that’s where the idea to ‘Operation Pucker Up’ came from. Now, I usually go back and forth between writing a serious YA and then a humorous middle grade. It’s the perfect balance that works together to always keep my writing fresh and my creativity flowing.
“And I’d like to think that my students keep my writing current and realistic,” she said. “They motivate me to write. They are right alongside of me for the entire process. I’m surrounded by the audience that I write for every single day, and I’m able to see firsthand what makes them happy, what they are passionate about and what worries them.”
Through that writing and learning process, Alpine noted it’s also symbiotic.
“They’ve listened as I brainstormed ideas, will read early drafts, help me work out plot problems, celebrate my successes, learn from my failures, and of course, read my books,” she said. “We have a writing club at Perry that meets after school once a week where we all work on our stuff together. We also attempted NaNoWriMo last November, where a group of us tried to write a novel in a month. We’re gearing up to do that again, which I’m pretty excited about.
“I think it’s so important to show them that it doesn’t matter where you live, where you grew up, or who you are, if you have a dream, you can make it happen. Seeing a book on the shelves at a library or bookstore had always been a huge dream to me, and I’m living proof of what can happen when you don’t give up. I’m incredibly lucky to be doing what I love. I can’t think of anything better than being able to spend the day talking about books and writing to my students, and then going home and creating books through my writing for that same audience. It really is a dream come true.”
Alpine grew up on the west side of Cleveland in Fairview Park. After seven years of commuting to Perry from Lakewood, she and her husband bought a house in Mentor. Barnes & Noble in Mentor carries her works, which can also be found in local libraries and through online booksellers.
A lpine’s writing, she said, allows her to also reach larger audiences than just her students, a realization she’s cherished and continues to establish throughout Northeast Ohio.
“My books have really given me a platform to be a voice to encourage children and teens to speak out, make their voices heard and work to make change. I’ve been able to work with groups such as Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, Slavic Village Reads and (child service agency) Bellefaire JCB.
“I do a ton of school and library visits and run writing workshops at local community centers,” she said. “Being able to connect with my readers is one of my favorite parts of being an author, and I love how passionate kids can be about books and reading.
“I have a patch for my middle grade book, ‘You Throw Like a Girl,’ and over 1,100 Girl Scouts are wearing it on their vests after completing a program where I connect with them through in-person author talks, Skype talks, or a penpal program where we talk about the messages in the book about being true to yourself and standing up against those who might not believe in you. I love working with them, and I am excited to continue the program into this new school year.”