Meg Wolitzer author of “Belzhar”
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Read Alikes: “The Impossible Knife of Memory”
If I Stay by Gayle Forman
Paper Towns by John Green
Shattered by Eric Walters
Soldier Doll by Jennifer Gold
The Always War by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Book Trailer: “All The Bright Places”
Book Review: “A Mad, Wicked Folly”
Message from Laurie Halse Anderson author of “The Impossible Knife of Memory”
We e-mailed Laurie Halse Anderson, author of The Impossible Knife of Memory, to inform her that her novel is among the Top 10 in this year’s CCRSB Teen Reader’s Choice Award. We were thrilled to receive the following response:
“Thank you so much for the exciting news about the nomination of The Impossible Knife of Memory! Thank you so much for the opportunity to share a few things with your readers!
“As I watched soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq – many of them struggling with PTSD – I couldn’t stop thinking about their children. My father developed PTSD as a result of his experience in World War II. His depression and alcoholism nearly destroyed our family.
“I wrote The Impossible Knife of Memory to show the incredible challenges faced by teens whose parents are dealing with substance abuse and mental illness. I borrowed a lot from my own life; the terror I felt when my dad was suicidal, my confusion about his mood swings, my anger when he passed out drunk, and my constant prayer that he would get better. There is a lot of sadness in this book, but there’s also friendship, humor, and the kind of love that gives you the strength and hope you need when times are tough. I hope your readers like it.”
Very truly yours,
Laurie Halse Anderson
Book Trailer: “The Thing About Jellyfish”
Message from Meg Wolitzer author of “Belzhar”
We e-mailed author Meg Wolitzer to let her know Belzhar is among the Top 10 in this year’s CCRSB Teen Reader’s Choice Award. We were thrilled to receive the following response:
“I’m really happy that Belzhar was nominated for a Teen Reader’s Choice Award. I tried to write the kind of book that I would have wanted to read when I was a teenager. The novel takes place at a boarding school for “emotionally fragile, highly intelligent teenagers.” I liked the idea of setting it there, because it meant that the characters would be far away from their families and friends, and off in a new situation where anything could happen. Fantasy ripples very lightly through the book, and I don’t want to say too much, but I will say that the ending is something that a lot of people seem to want to know about, asking me, “Did you always know it would end that way?” The answer is, “Not exactly.” Every book has to find its own story, and the writer has to struggle to tell it. I tried to do that, and along the way I loved being in the world of my characters. I still miss them.”
All the best,
Meg
Book Trailer: “The Impossible Knife of Memory”
Meet the TRCA 2016 Contenders
CCRCE’s TRCA Committee has shortlisted ten books for the 2016 Teen Reader’s Choice Award. The award winner will be announced on May 31st.
This year’s contending novels include a powerful novel about living with someone who has suffered through war; a graphic novel involving a young shape-shifter with a knack for villainy; and a smartly told story dealing with grief and other complex emotions.
Jennifer Niven author of All the Bright Places
Jennifer Niven grew up in Indiana and now lives with her fiancé and literary cats in Los Angeles.
As well as writing novels, Niven has also worked as a screenwriter, journalist and an associate producer at ABC Television.
Niven’s first young adult novel, All the Bright Places was released in 2015. The narrative follows two teenagers, Violet and Finch who are struggling with mental health issues.
Meg Wolitzer author of Belzhar
Meg Wolitzer was born in Brooklyn and raised in Syosset, New York. Wolitzer studied creative writing at Smith College and graduated from Brown University in 1981.
She has taught creative writing at the University of Iowa’s Writers’ Workshop, Skidmore College. Belzhar is her twelfth novel.
Kwame Alexander author of The Crossover
Kwame Alexander is a poet, educator, and the New York Times Bestselling author who believes that poetry can change the world. His name Kwame comes from Ghana and it means born on a Saturday, but Alexander was born on a Wednesday. His second novel, The Crossover, is a New York Times bestseller and Newbery Medal Winner.
Nicola Yoon author of Everything Everything
Nicola Yoon grew up in Jamaica and in Brooklyn, New York. She majored in electrical engineering as an undergraduate at Cornell University but taking a creative writing class as an elective got her “hooked on writing”. After graduation, she attended the Master of Creative Writing program at Emerson College.
Yoon currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband and their daughter. Everything Everything is her debut novel.
Kate Milford author of Greenglass House
Kate Milford is the New York Times bestselling author of the Edgar Award-winning, National Book Award nominee Greenglass House.
Kate has written for stage and screen, and as a contributing writer at nagspeake.com she has authored scholarly articles on subjects as varied as self-aware ironmongery and how to make saltwater taffy in a haunted kitchen. Kate grew up in Riva, Maryland, and now lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband, two children, and their dog.
Sharon Biggs Waller author of A Mad, Wicked Folly
Sharon Biggs Waller moved to England in 2000, where she worked as a riding instructor at the Royal Mews in Buckingham Palace and as a freelance magazine writer. These days she is a dressage rider and trainer and lives on a ten-acre sustainable farm in Northwest Indiana with her British husband, Mark.
Laurie Halse Anderson author of The Impossible Knife of Memory
Laurie Halse Anderson is an American writer, known for children’s and young adult novels.
She lives in Pennsylvania, where she likes to watch the snow fall as she writes. She and her husband, Scot, plus dogs Kezzie and Thor, and assorted chickens and other critters enjoy country living and time in the woods.
Noelle Stevenson author of Nimona
Noelle Stevenson is an American cartoonist and animation producer.
While attending MICA, Stevenson gained fame as a fan artist, under the name “gingerhaze”, for her “hipster Lord of the Rings” characters. In 2012, soon after posting the first few installments of Nimona online, Stevenson signed with a literary agent, who helped her sign with HarperCollins to publish Nimona as a graphic novel. For her work on Nimona, Stevenson won Slate Magazine’s 2012 Cartoonist Studio Prize for Best Web Comic of the Year, and the 2016 Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album: Reprint.
Follow her online on Twitter.
Ali Benjamin author of The Thing About Jellyfish
Ali Benjamin is a National Book Award Finalist for The Thing About Jellyfish, and the co-writer for HIV-positive teen Paige Rawl’s coming-of-age memoir Positive. She is a member of New England Science Writers and has written for The Boston Globe Magazine, Martha Stewart’s Whole Living, and Sesame Street. She lives in Massachusetts.
Josh Sundquist author of We Should Hang Out Sometime: Embarrassingly, a true story
Josh Sundquist is a Paralympic ski racer, cancer survivor, popular YouTube vlogger, motivational speaker, and Halloween enthusiast. Every Tuesday, Josh releases a new video to 200,000-plus subscribers on his YouTube channel.
As a motivational speaker, Josh has inspired audiences across the world. His speeches blend humor and heartfelt storytelling. He also performs standup comedy in an interactive one-man show on Friday nights in Los Angeles.
Obituary: Harper Lee
Harper Lee, author of the Pulitzer Prize winning To Kill A Mockingbird, passed away on the morning of February 19, 2016. Her famous novel was a 2012 TRCA Top 10 nominee.
Teen Reader's Choice Award 