Laurie Halse Anderson
As a little girl, Laurie Halse Anderson, author of American Girl's new animal adventure series, Wild at Heart, spent hours writing poems, letters, newspaper columns, and stories. Her many pets were a constant source of inspiration. "The first poem I ever wrote was about my kitten, Soot," she says. "I was playing with her on the front porch and she was so cute and wonderful, I just had to write it down."
Anderson spent her senior year of high school abroad, living on a pig farm in Denmark. "I helped with all the farm chores, from working in the fields to capturing runaway ducks," she reports. Upon her return, she attended Onondaga Community College in Syracuse, New York, then earned a bachelor's degree in Languages and Linguistics at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
Anderson has written numerous books for children and young adults. A picture book, Ndito Runs, was a 1996 "Pick of the Lists" from the American Booksellers Association. Her most recent title, Speak, was named a 2000 "Printz Honor Book" by the American Library Association and was a finalist for the 1999 National Book Award.
Although Anderson makes her living as a writer, she was convinced she would be a doctor when she grew up. She tries to incorporate her interest in medicine in her writing. As she says, "One of the things I enjoy about writing for Wild at Heart is learning about the work of veterinarians." Chronicling the adventures of five 11-year-old veterinary clinic volunteers, the series gives Anderson the opportunity to interview veterinarians to learn veterinary procedures and share proper animal care with her readers.
Caring for animals has taught Anderson valuable lessons. She confides, "The animals I have shared my life with have taught me how to love and how to care for something besides myself. They inspire me. They have been, and are, my best friends."
Anderson lives in Ambler, Pennsylvania, with her husband and two children.
For more information about Laurie, visit her website www.writerlady.com.
Reviews
Fever, 1793
Laurie Halse Anderson
The author of Speak goes back in time to create another strong heroine. Fourteen-year-old Matilda Cook reluctantly helps out at her mother's Philadelphia coffee house, and so is conveniently in place to catch the gossip and follow the unfolding of events during the city's plague of yellow fever in the summer and autumn of 1793. When her mother is stricken, and Mattie is sent to the country for her health, her story turns into one of survival and growth as she overcomes the terrible scourge herself, then must search for other survivors, battle both terrified neighbors and looters, and attempt to restore her family and fortunes. It's a handful for one young girl, but Anderson makes Mattie's story believable-and in the process builds a picture of Philadelphia in the days when it was the nation's largest city and capital. A useful appendix confirms the historical facts and adds verisimilitude to Anderson's fictional depiction of period medical procedures. 2000, Simon & Schuster, $16.00. Ages 10 up. Reviewer: Kathleen Karr
ISBN: 0-689-83858-1
Fight for Life
Laurie Halse Anderson
This new "American Girl" series has as its setting the Wild at Heart Animal Clinic, run by eleven-year-old Maggie's grandmother, Dr. J. J. MacKenzie. While Maggie is a whiz at the clinic, feeding and tending the animals, she struggles in school. When Gran calls in Brenna to volunteer so that Maggie can concentrate on homework, and adds volunteers Sunita and David when sick and abused puppies appear at the clinic, it is almost more than Maggie can stand. Zoe, Maggie's cousin from New York City, comes to stay for a while, and Maggie must share the clinic with all these new people. Soon, however, Maggie enlists their help to find the owner of a suspected puppy mill. Arrest of the owner follows, and Maggie's adventures earn credit for a class project. Plenty of realistic detail about caring for animals will satisfy would-be vets while the mystery and action will provide a light, satisfying read. Struggling students may emulate Maggie who finally accepts help from a tutor to fulfill her dream of becoming a veterinarian. The vet volunteers, each with distinct and interesting personalities, will soon be featured in their own books in the series. Book One of the "Wild at Heart American Girl" series. 2000, Pleasant Company Publications/Wild at Heart, Ages 7 to 11, $4.95. Reviewer: Martha Shaw
ISBN: 1-58485-043-4
Fight for Life
Laurie Halse Anderson
Maggie is a lot better at scrubbing the skunk smell out of dog fur than she is at doing homework. That's why Gran is worried about Maggie's grades. Maggie, however, is more upset about the sick puppies that keep appearing at her grandmother's veterinary clinic. To make matters worse, Gran employs new volunteers to take Maggie's place at the clinic in order to give her more study time. An engaging heroine, lots of dialogue, and a plot to save abused puppies make this a fast-paced story that kids will like. It also introduces five winning, but very different, young characters who must learn to work together for the good of the animals. Maggie is the protagonist of this story, but readers can look forward to the other volunteers starring in subsequent books that are set in the animal clinic, and which are part of the American Girl series, "Wild at Heart." (Gran teaches Maggie that all animals are wild at heart, then Maggie teaches Gran that kids are too)! 2000, Pleasant Company, Ages 8 to 12, $4.95. Reviewer: Betty Hicks
ISBN: 1-58485-043-4
Homeless
Laurie Halse Anderson
One of the "American Girl" series, Homeless is narrated by Sunita Patel, daughter of two Indian doctors in Pennsylvania. Sunita is part of a group of five sixth-graders who volunteer at the Wild at Heart Veterinary Clinic. Sunita wants a cat more than anything but her mother is adamantly opposed to cats as pets. The vet's cat Socrates makes Sunita his favorite volunteer but gets in a fight with a pregnant stray and runs after her. The kids follow, to discover in the woods near the railroad an abandoned boxcar where about 30 stray, wild, and feral cats live. (These terms and many more are all explained.) But there is no Socrates. Author Anderson, winner of last year's National Book Award for her YA novel Speak, here successfully meets the challenge of writing a series story with a didactic purpose by infusing it with emotion and information. There's action enough, too, to satisfy even middle-graders addicted to TV's bludgeoning violence, but through it all author Anderson keep the focus where it belongs, on Sunita's feelings. 2000, Pleasant Company Publications, Ages 8 to 12, $4.95. Reviewer: Nancy Tilly
ISBN: 1-58485-045-0
No Time for Mother's Day
Laurie Halse Anderson
Illustrated by Dorothy Donohue
As Mother's Day gets closer and closer, Charity becomes increasingly desperate to find a special gift for her busy, but very special Mom. Finally ignoring the inappropriate suggestions of friends and relatives, she comes up with the best gift of all--time. Quiet time, without the noises of bells, buzzes, or beepers. Child-like drawings bring out the humor and hectic, but caring action of the tale. 1999, Whitman, Ages 4 to 8, $14.95. Reviewer: Gisela Jernigan
ISBN: 0-8075-4955-X
Speak
Laurie Halse Anderson
Melinda Sordino knows she is an outcast from the moment she steps into her first year at Merryweather High. Even her best friends won't talk to her because she called the cops at an end of the summer party, and no one likes a rat. What they don't know, and what the reader doesn't find out until half way through the book, is that Melinda was date raped at that party by a popular senior jock. Terrified and ashamed, Melinda can't find the courage to tell anyone what really happened, and her silence makes her more isolated than ever. The story is told in short, titled passages rather than traditional chapters, and this format gives the novel a stylish contemporary feel. Melinda's intelligent, ironic, often humorous voice has a truly authentic ring. The author's sharp eye for the absurdities of high school life, and of our media crazed society, like the constant renaming of the high school football team to insure political correctness, add sardonic humor that will appeal to teens. But the novel's real power lies in the story of Melinda's gradual reclaiming of herself through the help of a compassionate art teacher, her concerned parents, and some caring students, and of her ultimate redemption as she finally finds the courage to speak. 1999, Farrar Straus Giroux, Ages 12 up, $16.00. Reviewer: Maggie Meacham
ISBN: 0-374-37152-0
Turkey Pox
Laurie Halse Anderson
Illustrated by Dorothy Donohue
The family is getting ready for Thanksgiving and Charity is so looking forward to going to visit grandmother. But alas as they get ready to set out, Charity has come down with chicken pox and the family must stay home. What will Thanksgiving be like without grandmother's wonderful turkey? Never fear, our resourceful grandmother arrives at the door with the bird. The story is fairly predictable, but it may interest the very young. 1996, Whitman, Ages 4 to 7, $14.95. Reviewer: Marilyn Courtot
ISBN: 0-8075-8127-5
Added 2000
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