From: Cassie Wilson <cwilson2>
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 2002 14:06:57 -0400

I am very impressed with Australia's YA literature after reading Feeling Sorry for Celia and Fighting Reuben Wolfe, two of the finest novels in the genre. Those books hug the reader to them as they hurtle along the hormonal road to whatever. It seems to me that they capture the real spirit of the age and speak directly to it. They are full of energy, inventiveness, wit, and humor as well as pain and angst. I think they speak to real teens who have similar (though surely not quite the same) problems and let them know there are others who've been through it, too. Sometimes American writers seem to try to pile on as much misery as they can because there is apparently some perception that this is what teens want to read about, and maybe it is. I think they also want to read about overcoming obstacles and about lives that are not necessarily overwhemed with despair. Every youth that I've handed the books to have liked them and recommended them.
    It is incomprehensible to me why the Printz Award committee did not give either of these books honor. I look forward to more books by these authors and hope that future committees will give them the acclaim they are due. Finding Australian literature is like discovering a whole new world. What a find!
    Cassie Wilson
Received on Thu 18 Jul 2002 01:06:57 PM CDT