The Twin Falls Middle School sixth-grade class tackled big issues with author Ben Mikaelsen on Tuesday, Feb. 3.

Sixth-grade teacher, Gary Werner, along with three other teachers invited the Montana-based author to speak with their students after a local contact informed him Mikaelsen was in the area. When asked to set up a visit, they immediately said, “absolutely, yes” and invited him to speak.

“We use one of his books (“Touching Spirit Bear”),” Werner explained, “to teach literary analysis to sixth graders (because) it’s appropriate and clearly structured. The text just works well for them. It was serendipity that we heard that he was in the area… He was great; he spoke to them at their level. He seemed real, and it makes the book more real to them.”

Mikaelsen’s young-adult novel, “Touching Spirit Bear,” follows a protagonist who learns empathy and responsibility after he’s offered a year of exile as restitution for bullying.

Werner said the author’s story was a reflection of his past spent as an “outsider” who briefly flirted with bullying as a defense mechanism.

“(Mikaelsen) had kind of an alien experience throughout his childhood. He was an Anglo boy growing up in Bolivia,” Werner explained. “When he moved to Minnesota, he didn’t really fit in there either (and) this kind of informed his personality.”

The influence of the author’s past on the novel was not lost on the students.

“I liked the way he explained that bullies are just people who haven’t learned to cope with themselves,” said Werner’s student Kinson. “And I liked how he shared his understanding from personal experience. He has the perspective of a former bully.”

Although it’s a rare opportunity, Werner expounded the benefits of lifting the veil and having an author speak directly to the kids.

“Whenever we can bring a voice in,” he said, “a person who represents that field, (the students) will jump on it.”

Werner’s statement especially rang true with his student Logan, who found new interest in the novel after hearing Mikaelsen’s first-hand testimony.

“Based on what Mr. Mikaelsen told us about himself,” Logan said, “I’m starting to see different things in the novel we’re reading, and I have different thoughts about how it’s probably going to finish.”

Werner has taught sixth grade at Twin Falls for two years, but said the maturity of his students, who are dealing with the growing pains that go hand in hand with middle school, often “stops me in my tracks.”

“Unless you spend a day with 11-, 12-, (or) 13-year-olds, you may not give them enough credit. They’re more articulate than people think,” he said. “I’m blessed to be working with them, they teach me so much!”