Author of a new coming-of-age novel, Beware the Smart Kids, Shepherd University Professor of Communications Dr. Matthew J. Kushin credits his motivation to write the novel from a class on happiness and social media he taught last Fall semester.
While teaching the class, called Happiness: Media v. Reality, he came across some statistics about rising mental health challenges among young people in the United States, and felt a calling to relay the core messages of the class to a wider audience.
He chose to do this by writing a novel because he believes, “stories are such a powerful vehicle for relaying ideas.”
The 370-page novel explains the life of a “troubled teenager” and an “ex-convict,” according to Kushin.
“The book is centered around an intergenerational mentorship between a teenager, Nolan, and an ex-convict, Mr. Barno,” Kushin said. “Both characters are outcasts in their communities. There are several myths and pitfalls about happiness that come up throughout the book, which eventually leads Nolan to learn five key lessons about the search for happiness.”
Kushin wrote the bulk of the novel during a sabbatical he took last Fall semester, which is an extended break from work that an employee can take while still being employed.
This time helped him create a novel which aims to help bridge the gap between life lessons teenagers go through and how they can help attain happiness later in life.
“My hope is that this story takes readers into the life of what it can feel like to be a teenager today while also relaying lessons about pitfalls and myths that we all come across on our pursuit for happiness,” Kushin said.
His relaying of the ideas of happiness and what it entails in the novel has been well received by some early readers. Kushin had a book launch party at Scarborough Library on Oct. 9.
“Beware the Smart Kids is a story for teenagers…those who feel invisible, those who are hiding their pain, those who think they’ll never find the answers, those who are yearning for something but don’t know what,” best-selling author Margaret Standafer explains in a book review. “And it’s a story for ‘former teenagers’ who are now trying to raise and love a teenager, but who have likely forgotten the hard parts of being one. Kushin’s debut novel is a poignant coming-of-age story with relatable characters and a powerful message on finding happiness.”
One of Dr. Kushin’s students, Emma Winn, wrote a review of the novel on social media.
“In a world where we struggle to be happy, this book lays out happiness, and it does so in a way that makes you engage with its characters and their growth. I did want to throw the book a time or two because of how much I cared about the characters so be warned, emotional attachment ahead,” she wrote on Threads.
Kushin hopes that his novel will not only help young adults learn about what happiness is, but to aspire young writers to create fiction written works of their own, and gives advice on how to go about writing fiction.
“Plan, plan, plan.… The characters changed and the outline changed while I was writing the book. But, if I hadn’t had the roadmaps, I never would have got where I was going,” he said.
During the writing process, Dr. Kushin had two mantras that he kept in his mind: “Don’t force anything,” and, “Don’t overwrite.”