All About Matthew's Web

Menu
• A Quick Look at Matthew's Web
• The Making of Matthew's Web
• A Note from The Teacher, Mrs. Beth Epstein
• A Note from The Principal, Dr. Walter C. Woolley

For more information, contact booksbyteens@jerifink.com.

To purchase your own copy of Matthew's Web, click here.
To purchase Matthew's Web in bulk at author's discount price (20 books or more) click here.

Click here to return to the menu at the top of this page.

A Quick Look at Matthew's Web

Matthew's Web

In too deep,
there's no turning back...

It’s a dangerous world. Matthew has run away from home and there’s no turning back. He goes f2f, plunging into the unknown lives of his five best online buddies. Sixty real teenagers partnered with authors Jeri Fink and Donna Paltrowitz to track Matthew’s terrifying adventures in his stormy pursuit. What happens when Matthew leaps from the computer to the streets? Can f2f be deadly? Who survives the lethal twists and turns of Matthew’s Web?

For more information, contact booksbyteens@jerifink.com.

Matthew’s Web addresses the issues of divorce, internet safety, and peer pressure.

To purchase your own copy of Matthew's Web, click here.

Click here to return to the menu at the top of this page.

The Making of Matthew's Web

It all began on a warm summer night in August. Authors Jeri Fink and Donna Paltrowitz were taking a walk through their neighborhood. Jeri and Donna had been friends, neighbors, and colleagues for many years. As parents, they spent many hours listening to their children talk about their world of school, friends, activities and conflicts. As authors, they felt that the kids just weren't being heard. Teens had so much to say and too many adults weren't listening.
Jeri and Donna were talking about how important it was for grown-ups to pay more attention to what teens had to say. It was late at night with a crescent moon in the sky, a few scattered stars and that eerie silence when most people are sleeping. They paused beneath a streetlight.

• Why don't we make it happen?
• It was the beginning of a new and untested idea in publishing.
• Let the teens speak out in their fiction.

Two incredibly creative educators, Dr. Walter C. Woolley, then principal of Lawrence Middle School, and Mrs. Beth Epstein, seventh grade English teacher, were captivated by the idea. They brought Matthew's Web to sixty teens eager to be part of the writing, editing, designing, and promoting of their own book. It wasn't easy and it wasn't fast. Between December and June an exciting exchange of ideas flew over the internet. The teens discussed and debated each character and conflict. No one was right, no one was wrong, no on was overlooked. They were all partners. Individual ideas as well as group votes were all part of the process. Those who wanted to do extra - submit a book review or draw a picture - were encouraged. Each student wrote a personal dedication which is usually a special privilege awarded to authors. After all their hard work they were invited to celebrate in the June 9, 2001 book launch, to officially welcome Matthew's Web into the world of teenage literature.

To purchase your own copy of Matthew's Web, click here.

Click here to return to the menu at the top of this page.

A Note from The Teacher, Mrs. Beth Epstein

English teachers love to read and write, but kids often think of these activities as "work." My class and I were lucky this year to have a chance to try a new way of combining reading and writing -- as well as listening and speaking -- that was work we loved. Matthew faces many real-life problems, and kids shared his experiences "vicariously." Now that's a good vocabulary word that sums up what humans are really about: we feel along with a character and try to work out what we would do in his or her shoes. We realize that a character's problems and conflicts are a lot like those we've had or witnessed or found out about, and we make associations between what we already know and what we're learning; we try to predict the events in a character's life just as we do in our own, and we evaluate actions because we bring to a book our own background knowledge. We often don't make immediate sense of a scene or episode, just as it takes us some time to make sense of our own world, so we "re-read" it. We try to picture what a place or a person is like, but we don't always agree with each other. We share ideas and discuss and support them, listening carefully and trying to make ourselves understood to our own audience. All these things happened when we read and edited, illustrated and critiqued MATTHEW'S WEB. We felt part of a real process of creation when we discussed our feelings and ideas with the authors, Jeri Fink and Donna Paltrowitz. We loved being part of the real-life process of writing a book about issues important to us. We hope that many others will share our "work" and love it, too!

To purchase your own copy of Matthew's Web, click here.

Click here to return to the menu at the top of this page.

A Note from The Principal, Dr. Walter C. Woolley

Many educators believe that students learn best when actively engaged in something significant to their lives. Students often read books written by others. They write perfunctory essays about the books and the authors without having any real experience with the work. Today's technology has given us opportunities to provide students with authentic learning experiences never before thought possible. But who will give the time? Who will take the risks? Who make the effort on behalf of students? Dr. Jeri Fink and Mrs. Donna Paltrowitz, both wonderful writers, and master teacher Mrs. Beth Epstein, have answered this question for us. These risk-taking teachers and writers have made students the beneficiaries, the creators and the critics of this wonderful, inspiring, collaborative novel.

To purchase your own copy of Matthew's Web, click here.

Click here to return to the menu at the top of this page.