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The Club Did you ever start a club of your own? When my daughter took Russian in high school, I thought her homework looked like fun. So when an evening class was offered at her school, I jumped right in. Learning to use the Cyrillic alphabet was a challenge -- like writing in code! I thought, "This is so cool -- kids would love it." Then an idea hit: Why not start a club for American and Russian kids? So I did.
By good luck, a Soviet traveling exhibition was visiting Orlando in December of 1989. A magazine editor with the group promised to announce the club in her magazine back in Moscow. So on New Year's Day 1990, my friend Jean and I set up club Druzhba on her computer (I didn't have one then), and the adventure began.
, or DRUZHBA (DROOZH-bah), is Russian for friendship. Kids on both sides of the world thought the club was a neat idea, and I matched thousands of pen pals! It was a letter from a Canadian girl that led to my writing the DANCEFUTURES books. As an afterthought, Tara added, "A dancer would be nice," and the idea for Future Perfect was born.
At the end of 1997, the club closed. After eight years, most of the kids had grown up -- the teen members had moved into their twenties! Several of the friends I made still write -- you can meet them on my Pen Pals page. You can also try learning a little Russian, as Tori does in Future Perfect.
Content © 2000-2008 Kat Corbett | Design © 2000-2008 Hillary Corbett
Last updated: February 12, 2008