How History Gets Made: Our Student Authors Lead a Workshop at Cupertino Library

On Sunday morning, October 25, the student authors of Wings of the Hornet stood at the front of the Community Room at Cupertino Library and taught a room full of people how history research actually works. The free public workshop, “From History Research to a Published Book”, was planned and presented by the high school students who are writing the book, mentored by George Retelas of the USS Hornet Sea, Air & Space Museum.

A preview of the book

Wings of the Hornet tells the story of the airmen and aircraft of two aircraft carriers that shared one name: USS Hornet CV-8, which launched the Doolittle Raid and fought at Midway, and USS Hornet CV-12, which joined the carrier offensive across the Pacific from 1943. The authors opened with a short preview from one of the book’s chapters, the story of Bombing Squadron Eight (VB-8).

Where history lives

Next, the students showed the audience where historians find their material: diaries and letters, photographs, logbooks, museums and archives, and the family photos and stories in their own homes. They turned it into a game. Is a soldier’s wartime diary a primary or a secondary source? What about a documentary? Is a .gov website more trustworthy than a .edu blog?

Reading a primary source together

The centrepiece was a real document: the Hornet’s own wartime tally board, which lists the ship’s strikes, the planes shot down and the tonnage sunk. The authors asked the audience the questions a historian has to ask before writing a single sentence. Who made this, and when? Who was it made for? How were these numbers counted? What is missing? A source is not simply true or false. It is evidence of something, and the historian’s job is to work out what.

From notes to narrative, then your turn

The authors shared the writing rules they follow for the book: stay objective, don’t write what you imagine someone was thinking, back every interpretation with evidence, and quote people word for word. Then the audience picked up their pens and turned a set of research notes into a short paragraph of their own, with the student authors walking the room to help.

The morning ended with people sharing what they wrote, what they found hardest, and what they would do differently next time.

What’s next for the book

The authors are now turning their research into chapters. In November they will spend a research residency aboard the USS Hornet in Alameda, and the manuscript goes to the publisher, 1Plus Books, in January 2027. It follows One Way Mission: The Doolittle Raid and the Chinese Rescue, written by CPM students and published in 2026.

Thank you to Cupertino Library for hosting us, to George Retelas for mentoring the authors, and to everyone who came out on a Sunday morning to write a little history with us.

Learn more about Wings of the Hornet and our upcoming events at www.cpmentorship.org.

CompassPoint Mentorship is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, EIN 46-2389059.