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RE: William Sleator
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From: nancegar <nancegar_at_aol.com>
Date: Thu, 04 Aug 2011 15:39:14 -0400
_at_aol.com
Sad news indeed--and a loss for readers. May his books live on!
Nancy G
On Aug 3, 2011, at 5:36:40 PM, "Jason Wells" wr ote:
From: "Jason Wells" Subject: RE:
William Sleator Date: August 3, 2011 5:36:40 PM EDT To: "ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu" August 3, 2011—William Sleator, the author of more than thirty books f or young adults and children, died on August 2, 2011, in Thailand. He wa s sixty-six years old. Born William Warner Sleator III on February 13, 1 945, in Havre de Grace, Maryland, and raised just outside St. Louis, Mis souri, he earned wide acclaim for intelligent, thought-provoking, and of ten disturbing science fiction novels in which young characters are pitt ed against the diabolical, baffling, or grotesque.
His first book, The Angry Moon, a picture book retelling of a Tlingi t Indian legend, was illustrated by his friend Blair Lent. It won a 1971 Caldecott Honor, but Sleator would find even greater acclaim with t he publication of his novel House of Stairs (1974), edited by Ann Du rrell, who would become his longtime editor. House of Stairs is wide ly considered a masterpiece of science fiction and was named one of the 100 Best Books for Teens by the American Library Association. He went on to publish many acclaimed novels, including Interstellar Pig (1984) and Singularity (1985), his own favorite of his books. In 1993, in a departure from his science fiction writing, he published a popular and hilarious collection of autobiographical stories, Oddballs, in which he detailed life growing up outside St. Louis in a family of brilliant e ccentrics who shunned conventionality and encouraged curiosity and wild experiments and pranks. The only nonscientist in his family, Sleator tur ned to the arts, playi ng the piano and writing from a young age. Early e fforts such as “Guillotines in the Springtime” and “The Haunted Ea ster Egg” delighted his family. After graduating from Harvard Universi ty, he worked as an accompanist, eventually for the Boston Ballet. But t he success of his books allowed him to quit and write full time.
Sleator died in his beloved Thailand. He explored his fascination with T hai culture, and its embrace of the beautiful and the grotesque, in Th e Spirit House and other novels published by Dutton Children’s Books . He followed editor Susan Van Metre to Abrams in 2002, and published The Boy Who Couldn’t Die as the lead title on the Amulet Books launc h list in 2004. His final book, The Phantom Limb, will be published by Amulet Books in October. He is survived by his father and two brothers.
Praise for the work of William Sleator:
“Sleator is the master of the creepy-crawly.” —The Horn Book
“This is an author who knows exactly what adolescents care about. . . . His genius is in taking vague science-fiction whimsy and using imagery to word-paint it into a stunning virtual reality. Nobody does it better !” —School Library Journal
“One of my favorite young adult writers.” —R. L. Stine
JASON M. WELLS Executive Director, Publicity and Marketing Abrams Books for Young Readers | Amulet Books | Abrams Appleseed
ABRAMS | The Art of Books Since 1949 115 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011 T 212.229.8826 | F 212.366.0809 | M: 646.456.5446 jwells_at_abramsbooks.com www.abramsbooks.com
Visit blog.abramsbooks.com
Like ABRAMS Books on Facebook
Follow us _at_ABRAMSBooks on Twitter
HAVE YOU READ THE DRAGON OF CRIPPLE CREEK by Troy Howell?
This delightful debut novel by the illustrator of the REDWALL series cov ers is a heart-warming adventure about all that glitters versus all that matters. Never before have the American West and ancient dragons been r olled together into one wild, tumbleweed tale.
From: Jason Wells
Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2011 3:53 PM To: 'Lbhcove_at_aol.com'; ccbc-net@lists.wisc.edu Subject: RE:
SAD NEWS
Bill's last book, The Phantom Limb, will be published this October by Am ulet Books.
We will share an obituary shortly. We are all very sad.
JASON M. WELLS Executive Director, Publicity and Marketing Abrams Books for Young Readers | Amulet Books | Abrams Appleseed
ABRAMS | The Art of Books Since 1949 115 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011 T 212.229.8826 | F 212.366.0809 | M: 646.456.5446 jwells_at_abramsbooks.com www.abramsbooks.com
Visit blog.abramsbooks.com
Like ABRAMS Books on Facebook
Follow us _at_ABRAMSBooks on Twitter
HAVE YOU READ THE DRAGON OF CRIPPLE CREEK by Troy Howell?
This delightful debut novel by the illustrator of the REDWALL series cov ers is a heart-warming adventure about all that glitters versus all that matters. Never before have the American West and ancient dragons been r olled together into one wild, tumbleweed tale.
From: Lbhcove_at_aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2011 3:50 PM To: ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu Subject:
SAD NEWS
William Sleator, author of many popular YA books, died yesterday at the age of 65.
Bill was a multi-talented man. It is so sad to lose someone so young.
Lee Bennett Hopkins
Visit my site at: www.leebennetthopkins.com
Date: Thu, 04 Aug 2011 15:39:14 -0400
_at_aol.com
Sad news indeed--and a loss for readers. May his books live on!
Nancy G
On Aug 3, 2011, at 5:36:40 PM, "Jason Wells" wr ote:
From: "Jason Wells" Subject: RE:
William Sleator Date: August 3, 2011 5:36:40 PM EDT To: "ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu" August 3, 2011—William Sleator, the author of more than thirty books f or young adults and children, died on August 2, 2011, in Thailand. He wa s sixty-six years old. Born William Warner Sleator III on February 13, 1 945, in Havre de Grace, Maryland, and raised just outside St. Louis, Mis souri, he earned wide acclaim for intelligent, thought-provoking, and of ten disturbing science fiction novels in which young characters are pitt ed against the diabolical, baffling, or grotesque.
His first book, The Angry Moon, a picture book retelling of a Tlingi t Indian legend, was illustrated by his friend Blair Lent. It won a 1971 Caldecott Honor, but Sleator would find even greater acclaim with t he publication of his novel House of Stairs (1974), edited by Ann Du rrell, who would become his longtime editor. House of Stairs is wide ly considered a masterpiece of science fiction and was named one of the 100 Best Books for Teens by the American Library Association. He went on to publish many acclaimed novels, including Interstellar Pig (1984) and Singularity (1985), his own favorite of his books. In 1993, in a departure from his science fiction writing, he published a popular and hilarious collection of autobiographical stories, Oddballs, in which he detailed life growing up outside St. Louis in a family of brilliant e ccentrics who shunned conventionality and encouraged curiosity and wild experiments and pranks. The only nonscientist in his family, Sleator tur ned to the arts, playi ng the piano and writing from a young age. Early e fforts such as “Guillotines in the Springtime” and “The Haunted Ea ster Egg” delighted his family. After graduating from Harvard Universi ty, he worked as an accompanist, eventually for the Boston Ballet. But t he success of his books allowed him to quit and write full time.
Sleator died in his beloved Thailand. He explored his fascination with T hai culture, and its embrace of the beautiful and the grotesque, in Th e Spirit House and other novels published by Dutton Children’s Books . He followed editor Susan Van Metre to Abrams in 2002, and published The Boy Who Couldn’t Die as the lead title on the Amulet Books launc h list in 2004. His final book, The Phantom Limb, will be published by Amulet Books in October. He is survived by his father and two brothers.
Praise for the work of William Sleator:
“Sleator is the master of the creepy-crawly.” —The Horn Book
“This is an author who knows exactly what adolescents care about. . . . His genius is in taking vague science-fiction whimsy and using imagery to word-paint it into a stunning virtual reality. Nobody does it better !” —School Library Journal
“One of my favorite young adult writers.” —R. L. Stine
JASON M. WELLS Executive Director, Publicity and Marketing Abrams Books for Young Readers | Amulet Books | Abrams Appleseed
ABRAMS | The Art of Books Since 1949 115 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011 T 212.229.8826 | F 212.366.0809 | M: 646.456.5446 jwells_at_abramsbooks.com www.abramsbooks.com
Visit blog.abramsbooks.com
Like ABRAMS Books on Facebook
Follow us _at_ABRAMSBooks on Twitter
HAVE YOU READ THE DRAGON OF CRIPPLE CREEK by Troy Howell?
This delightful debut novel by the illustrator of the REDWALL series cov ers is a heart-warming adventure about all that glitters versus all that matters. Never before have the American West and ancient dragons been r olled together into one wild, tumbleweed tale.
From: Jason Wells
Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2011 3:53 PM To: 'Lbhcove_at_aol.com'; ccbc-net@lists.wisc.edu Subject: RE:
SAD NEWS
Bill's last book, The Phantom Limb, will be published this October by Am ulet Books.
We will share an obituary shortly. We are all very sad.
JASON M. WELLS Executive Director, Publicity and Marketing Abrams Books for Young Readers | Amulet Books | Abrams Appleseed
ABRAMS | The Art of Books Since 1949 115 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011 T 212.229.8826 | F 212.366.0809 | M: 646.456.5446 jwells_at_abramsbooks.com www.abramsbooks.com
Visit blog.abramsbooks.com
Like ABRAMS Books on Facebook
Follow us _at_ABRAMSBooks on Twitter
HAVE YOU READ THE DRAGON OF CRIPPLE CREEK by Troy Howell?
This delightful debut novel by the illustrator of the REDWALL series cov ers is a heart-warming adventure about all that glitters versus all that matters. Never before have the American West and ancient dragons been r olled together into one wild, tumbleweed tale.
From: Lbhcove_at_aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2011 3:50 PM To: ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu Subject:
SAD NEWS
William Sleator, author of many popular YA books, died yesterday at the age of 65.
Bill was a multi-talented man. It is so sad to lose someone so young.
Lee Bennett Hopkins
Visit my site at: www.leebennetthopkins.com
---Received on Thu 04 Aug 2011 03:39:14 PM CDT
