Of Mages, Kings, and Polaris Academy

By Rebecca C.

Would you believe me if I told you that NorthStar has a secret code name? Well, believe me or not, it’s true! NorthStar has in fact been cleverly disguised in the 2021 book Of Mages, Kings, and Polaris Academy. The book was written by a high school student and former writer on the Navigator: Tirzah!

Published in August of 2021, Of Mages, Kings, and Polaris Academy is the story of a sixteen-year-old boy named James Clay who feels he can never find a place to belong. So when James is sent to a boarding school in Mississippi called Polaris Academy, he isn’t expecting much. But as it turns out, his preconceived notions were wrong, because Polaris is an extraordinary place of magic, prophecies… and villains!

After reading Tirzah’s book, I thought it was quite funny and a gripping story. So, I decided to talk to Tirzah and learn a bit more about her and her book. Tirzah is seventeen years old and lives in Salem, Indiana. She tells me that the core idea for Of Mages, Kings, and Polaris Academy came from simply starting to write a story that showed the iNSAness of NorthStar Academy. As she kept writing chapter after chapter, however, it shifted into a magical adventure full of elves and Russian mages. Her friends (many of them are also characters in the book) also helped her come up with plot twists and new directions for the story to turn.

Tirzah has been writing stories through a good chunk of her childhood. She published her first book when she was twelve using a free program called Kindle Direct Publishing, but she had been writing for fun before that. When I asked her what she enjoyed about writing, she responded with, “I enjoy it because it’s a part of me. I write like I walk. It comes so naturally I don’t even think about it anymore. All that to say... I guess I enjoy it because I can do it, and I’m not good at very many things. I love discovering the story as I write – I almost never know what’s going to happen next. I love meeting the people I create. I love building new worlds, or ‘editing’ my own, and I love twisting the character’s lives around the events that spring up.” 

Tirzah hopes that those who read her book will take away and understand the importance of loyalty and honor. “Those things have been mostly lost in today’s culture,” Tirzah says, “and I’m trying to bring them back in the book. It’s important to do the best you can for others even if you don’t care, because it’s the right thing to do.” She also thinks that a reader who had never attended NSA would enjoy this book too.

Tirzah’s advice for young writers who are just getting started is to never give up. Just because you have a bit of bad luck with a certain story doesn’t mean you should stop writing! Tirzah says, “Look up tips, learn from other writers, pay attention in writing class if you’re taking one, but remember: no one can teach you anything about your writing. Everyone’s different, but I know that I have never learned anything from a writer’s class that I wouldn’t have figured out myself. Your style is yours.” She highly recommends reading classic literature to improve. She mentioned greats like J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Jane Austen, and Charles Dickens. 

You may not be going on a life-threatening adventure like James Clay and his companions, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t on some sort of quest. Perhaps, you’re a young writer like Tirzah. Maybe, you’re an aspiring basketball player. You might dream of traveling the world someday. But no matter who you are and what your quest is, don’t give up. :)

Read Of Mages, Kings, and Polaris Academy here. (Both Kindle and paperback versions are available.)

Rebecca C. started at NSA in January of 2021. She lives in Massachusetts in the US. She is in 8th grade and enjoys filmmaking, writing, and loves animals.

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