Anderson Gets It

“If things like . . . PTSD upset adults like me, what do they feel like to the teens who are trapped by them?” -- Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Speak, and other books you should be reading. 

Seriously, if you need another reason to pick up a book by this outstanding YA author (whose titles are most certainly good enough for adults to read!) please click immediately to her interview recently published in BookPage. 

Thank you. 

I heard that

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, first published in 1999, could have been written yesterday, or tomorrow. Note to parents: the date-rape thing? get over it. Your girl child really ought to read this.

Even quite-uptight Common Sense Media rated it "age appropriate" for 13 and up. Of course there was that one "iffy" scene because a teacher makes an anti-immigration speech.

(Ohmygoodness!)
(#GetOverIt)

Read on...

Speaking of...

I slipped out of the house yesterday morning to hear Chuck Sambuchino of F+W Media talk about his experience in the publishing world (and his latest Guide to Literary Agents) and he mentioned that writers who are having a hard time breaking in to picture books (those 32-page kids books, more pictures than words) may instead break into YA or MG market, then say to their established agent/publisher, "hey, I have some picture books titles ready to go..."

It made me wonder if that's what Speak author Laurie Halse Anderson did with The Hair of Zoe Fleefenbacher Goes to School, which I recently reviewed for The Plain Dealer. I rather doubt it, but maybe...

You can see all five of my reviews of back-to-school picture books in today's print edition/arts section, or check it out on the website.