From: Christine Hill <chill>
Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 14:56:20 -0500

I commented on Speak in December, and also extensively on the child_lit listserv, so I wanted others to have their say, but on the last day of the month, I wanted to come forward. First of all, no one has mentioned the book's dynamite jacket art. All you publishers lurking out there: this is what your model for a YA hardcover should be. Subtle, yet eye-poppingly attention-getting, this book flies out the door just on the strength of the jacket. One of the teens into whose hands it flew was my own fifteen year old daughter, a steady but by no means voracious reader. (Current read, She's Come Undone; last summer's read, The Killer Angels; in between, Speak) For the first time EVER, she asked me to see a book I was reading, and on the strength of its jacket asked to have it next. Her comments: 1. High school isn't as bad as that. 2. I guess that makes me and my friends Marthas, but we're not mean. 3. Why didn't Melinda fight back, or at least scream? I am an acquaintance of Laurie Halse Anderson's and saw her at a writer's meeting after the National Book Award nomination, but before the Prinz honor. I relayed comment #1 and her reply was: even Melinda's high school is not as bad as the wounded Melinda perceives it to be. Also of interest is Laurie's comment that she did her dialogue research at the local mall's food court. A child_lit poster noted that first person narration is the trend of the year in award books. Certainly Speak and Bud Not Buddy knock your socks off with their highly distinctive narrative voices and Monster and Hard Love are very close behind. Christine M. Hill Willingboro Public Library One Salem Road Willingboro, NJ 08046 chill at willingboro.org My new book! Robert Ballard: Oceanographer Who Discovered the Titanic, Enslow, 1999

Beth Wright wrote:
Received on Tue 29 Feb 2000 01:56:20 PM CST