The amazing Rob Rufus

20 September 2024: It's been a long (but good!) week and my brain is not going to let me be too articulate about this, but indisputably the best part of today was having Rob Rufus visit my Young Adult Lit class. My friend Leigh, who organizes the Shepherdstown Book Festival, contacted me months ago, asking if Rob, a featured author, could talk to students. I took a leap of faith and told Leigh 1) absolutely and 2) I would teach Rob's book Die Young With Me in the class, even though I hadn't read it yet.

Fast forward to these past two weeks. My students loved this book and were so excited to get to meet Rob and ask him questions. And Rob is just a wonderful human being--funny, smart, creative, and so unbelievably kind and empathetic. 

I had to run from that class to a meeting with a student--and then had two more back-to-back conferences. When I had a little break, I stepped into the hallway, peeked into the classroom, and saw that--over an hour later--he was still in there, talking to three students who lingered. I have no idea how long he was there, but it just took my breath away. This guy catapulted to the top of my favorite people list.