(yeah, genius just looked at the back of the book to find it says 'ages 10 and up', so let's pretend i just had an original idea and move along.) the situation seems a little whitewashed, if you will excuse the word-choice, but it does seem pretty tidy and not as emotionally overwrought as the teen fiction i have been reading so far for this class. This book would be appropriate for younger readers, i think - it seems less focused on the atrocities of slavery and more reduced to the experiences of one plucky girl having a little adventure with espionage and some incidental revolution going on all around her. However, since this is the FIRST book of some larger undertaking (which they do NOT tell you on the cover, thanks) no one knows when 'the end of it all' is. not that this girl doesn't have problems - she is a slave which trumps anorexia as far as problems go**, but overall isabel is a more winsome character than les autres, one that you actually would like to see successful at the end of it all. much better when she is writing historical fiction than when she is writing her girls-with-problems books. Find out more about Laurie by following her on Twitter at Instagram at halseanderson, and Facebook at lauriehalseanderson, or by visiting her website,. She lives in Philadelphia, where she enjoys cheesesteaks while she writes. In addition to combating censorship, Laurie regularly speaks about the need for diversity in publishing and is a member of RAINN’s National Leadership Council. Edwards Award and has been honored for her battles for intellectual freedom by the National Coalition Against Censorship and the National Council of Teachers of English. Laurie was selected by the American Library Association for the 2009 Margaret A. Two more books, Shout and The Impossible Knife of Memory, were long-listed for the National Book Award. Two of her books, Speak and Chains, were National Book Award finalists, and Chains was short-listed for the prestigious Carnegie medal. Laurie has been nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award four times.

Her new book, SHOUT, a memoir-in-verse about surviving sexual assault at the age of thirteen and a manifesta for the #MeToo era, has received widespread critical acclaim and appeared on the New York Times bestseller list for seven consecutive weeks. Combined, her books have sold more than 8 million copies. UPDATE! SHOUT, my memoir in verse, is out, has received 9 starred reviews, and was longlisted for the National Book Award!įor bio stuff: Laurie Halse Anderson is a New York Times bestselling author whose writing spans young readers, teens, and adults.

Chains anderson