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new voices
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From: Jonathan Hunt <jhunt24>
Date: Sat, 02 Nov 2002 00:35:13 +0000
Is it the end of the month already? Yikes.
None of these authors are new in the sense that they are recently discovered but rather that they are only a book or two into what I hope is a very large body of work. And some of them have already been mentioned . . .
I second Sharon Flake. She has an excellent grasp of how young adolescents think and talk and feel, and I'm looking forward to her continued development as a writer. MONEY HUNGRY was probably the most widely read book in my classroom last year. I'd guess fifteen to twenty students eventually read it, which is a fairly large percentage. (I also really liked the book design: *fabulous* cover art coupled with a more rectangular trim size and large font size made it faily jump off the shelf and into student hands.
I also second Franny Billingsley. WELL WISHED and THE FOLK KEEPER were good, but I think her best work is ahead of her. I would say the same for Megan Whalen Turner. INSTEAD OF THREE WISHES, THE THIEF, and THE QUEEN OF ATTOLIA,are only harbingers of things to come. If you're looking for the next Newbery Medal to go to a work of mythic high fantasy, I would to one of these authors first. I think both are capable of following in the footsteps of Lloyd Alexander, Susan Cooper, and Robin McKinley.
I'm a big Edward Bloor fan. TANGERINE was fantastic, and even though most people thought CRUSADER could have been streamlined, I still found it compulsively readable. An important, emerging YA voice.
Christopher Paul Curtis. I know, I know, this is a no-brainer, but if his books keep racking up awards and honors at this rate, he'll be the most decorated children's writer ever! Can you envision looking back on his body of work in thirty years or so? On ten to fifteen Christopher Paul Curtis novels? Pure ectasy! (I also mentioned him because I wanted to put a big plug in for the audio versions of BUD, NOT BUDDY and THE WATSONS GO TO BIRMINGHAM which do nothing but enhance the text, IMHO.)
My only problem with all of these authors, of course, is that they don't write fast enough! It just won't do to have to wait three or four years between novels. Won't do at all. :-(
Jonathan
P.S. Several of my students have really enjoyed PLAYING THE FIELD which was mentioned earlier in the month.
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Received on Fri 01 Nov 2002 06:35:13 PM CST
Date: Sat, 02 Nov 2002 00:35:13 +0000
Is it the end of the month already? Yikes.
None of these authors are new in the sense that they are recently discovered but rather that they are only a book or two into what I hope is a very large body of work. And some of them have already been mentioned . . .
I second Sharon Flake. She has an excellent grasp of how young adolescents think and talk and feel, and I'm looking forward to her continued development as a writer. MONEY HUNGRY was probably the most widely read book in my classroom last year. I'd guess fifteen to twenty students eventually read it, which is a fairly large percentage. (I also really liked the book design: *fabulous* cover art coupled with a more rectangular trim size and large font size made it faily jump off the shelf and into student hands.
I also second Franny Billingsley. WELL WISHED and THE FOLK KEEPER were good, but I think her best work is ahead of her. I would say the same for Megan Whalen Turner. INSTEAD OF THREE WISHES, THE THIEF, and THE QUEEN OF ATTOLIA,are only harbingers of things to come. If you're looking for the next Newbery Medal to go to a work of mythic high fantasy, I would to one of these authors first. I think both are capable of following in the footsteps of Lloyd Alexander, Susan Cooper, and Robin McKinley.
I'm a big Edward Bloor fan. TANGERINE was fantastic, and even though most people thought CRUSADER could have been streamlined, I still found it compulsively readable. An important, emerging YA voice.
Christopher Paul Curtis. I know, I know, this is a no-brainer, but if his books keep racking up awards and honors at this rate, he'll be the most decorated children's writer ever! Can you envision looking back on his body of work in thirty years or so? On ten to fifteen Christopher Paul Curtis novels? Pure ectasy! (I also mentioned him because I wanted to put a big plug in for the audio versions of BUD, NOT BUDDY and THE WATSONS GO TO BIRMINGHAM which do nothing but enhance the text, IMHO.)
My only problem with all of these authors, of course, is that they don't write fast enough! It just won't do to have to wait three or four years between novels. Won't do at all. :-(
Jonathan
P.S. Several of my students have really enjoyed PLAYING THE FIELD which was mentioned earlier in the month.
_________________________________________________________________ Internet access plans that fit your lifestyle -- join MSN. http://resourcecenter.msn.com/access/plans/default.asp
Received on Fri 01 Nov 2002 06:35:13 PM CST
