Stewart Middle School seventh graders heard from three bestselling authors Tuesday during a virtual visit in the media center.

Students in Tamekia Glanton’s advanced English language arts class met authors Kwame Alexander, James Ponti and Kwame Mbalia. The visit was arranged by media specialist Heather Deal through One Word at a Time, which Alexander founded to connect authors and students and make reading fun.

Alexander is the Newbery Medal-winning author of “The Crossover” and “Booked.” Ponti is a New York Times bestselling author of the “City Spies” and “Sherlock Society” series. Mbalia is a New York Times bestselling author of the “Tristan Strong” trilogy and the “Jax Freeman” series.

In addition to learning about how the writers craft their stories, students also participated in a Dynamic Dialogue Writing Lesson.

“To me, it brings reading so much closer to them,” said Glanton, whose students include sisters Aaisha and Faatima Faye, two of the school’s top three Beanstack readers. "Sometimes it’s hard for them to connect with an author and their work. But when we get to sit down and hear how Kwame Alexander or anybody he’s interviewed was inspired to write these, it makes the writing more reachable and more accessible to the kids.”