1. …some yummy, delicious, wacky, scary, fascinating, spine- tingling, hilarious… AUTHORS

2. Assembled by Deborah B. Stanley, for free use by educators and students, with all due credit to each of the web site URLs contained herein. 2003.

3. http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/askauthor/Avi.html He has written mystery, adventure, fantasy and ghost stories. One message he extends to all readers is, "Listen and watch the world around you. Try to understand why things happen. Don't be satisfied with answers others give you. Don't assume that because everyone believes a thing it is right or wrong. Reason things out for yourself. Work to get answers on your own. Understand why you believe things. Finally, write what you honestly feel, then learn from the criticism that will always come your way." AVI is for AVI http://www.avi-writer.com/

4. John Bellairs http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/John_Bellairs.htm “For mystery fans, the name John Bellairs conjures up images of spooky houses, wizards, magic, and ghosts. A former teacher, Bellairs drew upon both his childhood memories and a vivid imagination in order to write a series of mysteries featuring enterprising adolescent detectives. What sets Bellairs's books apart from other young adult mysteries is his mix of classic horror elements and traditional "coming of age" themes.” http://www.compleatbellairs.com/johnb.shtml

5. “ Ray Bradbury is one of those rare individuals whose writing has changed the way people think. His more than five hundred published works -- short stories, novels, plays, screenplays, television scripts, and verse -- exemplify the American imagination at its most creative.” “ ‘I am truly grateful to be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame,'' said Ray Bradbury. ``I received so much inspiration from this city that it is a wonderful feeling to be a permanent part of my hometown.’ ” http://www.raybradbury.com/awards_Hollywood.html http://www.raybradbury.com/about.html

6. Matt Christopher Q: How do you think of so many good stories and not run out? A: I love writing, and do as most writers do: work on an idea until it's the best I can come up with, then work on another... and another... and so on! http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/askauthor/Christopher.html

7. http://www.scholastic.com/titles/paula/index.htm Paula Danziger Click on the above web site, then on http://www.childrenslit.com/f_danziger.html

8. Allan Eckert Biography: Award, Recognitions, and Nominations http://www.allaneck.com/bio-awards.html http://www.allaneck.com/index.html “Allan W. Eckert is an historian, naturalist, novelist, poet, screenwriter and playwright…In addition to his books, he has written and had published over 150 articles, essays, and short stories, as well as considerable poetry, a major outdoor drama, and screenplays for several movies.”

9. Paul Fleischman “As children, Paul Fleischman and his sisters often biked around the streets and alleys of their hometown, Monterey, California, collecting thrown-out items from other people's trash cans. Fleischman still does this in a way, gathering together forgotten bits of history and quirky facts he learns from old books as he crafts a new piece of writing.” http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hmr/mtai/fleischm an.html http://www.charlottezolotow.com/paul_fleischman.htm

10. Jean Craighead George write for children. Children are still in love with the wonders of nature, and I am too. So I tell them stories about a boy and a falcon, a girl and an elegant wolf pack, about owls, weasels, foxes, prairie dogs, the alpine tundra, the tropical rain forest. And when the telling is done, I hope they will want to protect all the beautiful creatures and places. http://www.jeancraigheadgeorge.com/

11. Virginia Hamilton http://www.virginiahamilton.com/ For her novel M.C. Higgins, the Great, Ms. Hamilton was the first African American to win the John Newbery Medal. M.C. Higgins is also the only book ever to have been awarded the Newbery Medal, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and the National Book Award -- the three most prestigious U.S. awards for children's books.

12. S.E. Hinton http://www.randomhouse.com/teachers/authors/sehi.html Biography and interview: http://www.sehinton.com Q. How do you begin to write your books? I always begin with a character in mind and an ending I want to get to. I like my characters to grow, to show some change. So I know that in the middle of the book I'll have to figure out how to make the change happen. The middle is the hardest part for me.

13. Brian Jacques One of Jacques' favorite memories was meeting eight- year-old Josh from Illinois: "I was in Illinois doing a festival in St. Charles. I was signing books the night before in a library when this little dot of a fella comes up to me. I said, what's your name lad? He said, 'I'm Josh, sir. And you'll be coming to my school tomorrow.' I said, Josh, that will be very nice. And he replied, 'I am to be your escort.' I said, will you take care of me Josh? And Josh very seriously answered, 'Sir, I will protect you with my life.'" http://www.kidsreads.com/authors/au-jacques-brian.asp When people ask Jacques if he has any advice for kids, this is what he says: "Be good mice, don't be dirty rats. Remember, television can't take you places the way books can. So read, read, read."

14. Diana Wynn Jones Diana is a friend of mine. She is deliciously wicked, tells wonderful stories, is much too nice to people who use her, has bouts with terrible health problems and then makes light of it all in stories that alternately curl your toes and make you fall on the ground laughing. And if I could get her to stop smoking, I'd be a happy camper. JaneYolen@AOL.com http://suberic.net/dwj http://www.leemac.freeserve.co.uk/index.htm

15. Gordon Korman http://gordonkorman.com/ “10) Did you really write your first book in seventh grade? Yes, but it wasn't on purpose. In my school, the track and field coach had to teach language arts, and for writing, he just told us to work on whatever we wanted for the rest of the year. I wrote This Can't Be Happening At Macdonald Hall, which was published a year and a half later when I was fourteen.” Gordon Answers the Top Ten Questions Kids Ask http://www.fetchbook.info/search_Gord on_Korman/startFrom_2.html

16. Lois Lowry “Lois Lowry, author of over 20 novels and winner of the Newbery Medal twice, is a woman to be taken seriously…. She has tackled a number of topics in her literature including adoption, mental illness, cancer, the Holocaust and futuristic societies. Whatever the theme, Lowry portrays realistic life experiences to her audience.” http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~kvander/lowry.html Series: Bio + Books http://www.loislowry.com/giver.html Titles:

17. Walter Dean Myers http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hmr/mtai/wdmyers.html “Walter Dean Myers discovered he loved to write when he was in fifth grade. His teacher required that all her students read in front of the class. Myers, who had a speech impediment, froze with fear at the thought. But when the teacher allowed the students to read something they had written themselves, Myers relaxed. He began writing poems made up only of words he could pronounce. He hasn't stopped writing since.”

18. Phyllis Reynolds Naylor http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hmr/mtai/naylor.html “When asked how she spends her spare time, Naylor replies, ‘What spare time? If I'm not writing, I'm thinking about writing. If you followed me around for a week, you would see me go on a three-mile walk every morning and swim every afternoon and sometimes play the piano, but all the while, I'm working out a plot in my head.’” http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/askauthor/Naylor.html http://www.fetchbook.info/search_Phyll is_Reynolds_Naylor/searchBy_Author. html

19. Scott O’Dell 1898 - 1989 Scott O'Dell's books have entertained and enlightened millions of readers around the world. Children with a thirst for adventure and a love of nature are drawn to his stories of young people, whose survival depends on their determination and self-reliance. He has been called "the foremost American writer of children's historical fiction." Scott O’Dell awards (click left link) http://www.edupaperback.org/authorbios/ODell_Scott.html Biography: http://www.scottodell.com/

20. http://www.childrenslit.com/f_katherinepaterson.html Katherine Paterson Katherine Paterson is the author of twelve novels for children and young people including Bridge to Terabithia and Jacob Have I Loved, Newbery Winners in 1978 and 1981 and The Great Gilly Hopkins, a Newbery Honor Book. The Great Gilly Hopkins and The Master Puppeteer were National Book Award winners in 1979 and 1977. Her novel Lyddie, set in Vermont and Massachusetts in the 1840's was the 1994 United States representative for writing on the Honor List of the International Board of Books for Young People. Flip-Flop Girl, published in 1994, was an ALA Notable Book, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, a Parent's Choice Story Book Award winner in 1994 and was named a Notable Book of 1994 by The New York Times. Her most recent novel, Jip, His Story, is the recipient of the 1997 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, an ALA Notable Book and a Best Book for Young Adults.

21. Dear Readers, So much of what I live becomes what I write about that sometimes the defining line between my real life and my characters' book lives -- and especially Brian's life in the Hatchet series of books -- becomes very blurred. This has become so evident to many of my readers that they have requested a non-fiction version of the adventures in my life which link me to Brian -- and so the book Guts. It is as accurate as I could make it, working from memory and some notes and because of this it is sometimes a bit gritty, and I hope that it answers many of the questions the readers have asked in their letters. http://www.randomhouse.com/features/garypaulsen/ http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/paulsenbib.htm Books: http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~kvander/paulsen1.html Student evaluation:

22. Tamora Pierce Books and reviews: http://www.allscifi.com/Topics/Topic_3054.asp http://www.tamora-pierce.com/about.htm Q: Where do you get your ideas? A: Other ideas come from my past obsessions. From the time I was six or seven until I was ten, I read anything and everything I could find about knights, the Crusades, and the Middle Ages. Then I fell into a new interest and ignored the Crusades: my next area of interest in knighthood was in the fantasy novels and Arthurian legends I read in middle school.

23. John H. Ritter Winner of the 1999 International Reading Association's "Children's Book Award." Named an American Library Association "Best Book for Young Adults." Named a 1999 "Blue Ribbon Book" by The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. Named an International Reading Association "Young Adult Readers Choice" for 2000. http://www.johnhritter.com

24. "The idea that we could have a child who escapes from the confines of the adult world and goes somewhere where he has power, both literally and metaphorically, really appealed to me." J.K. Rowling http://www.kidsreads.com/harrypotter/jkrowling.html

25. If I were you, I would immediately turn your computer off rather than view any of the dreadful images, read any of the wretched information, play any of the unnerving games or examine the unpleasant books presented within this website. http://www.lemonysnicket.com Lemony Snicket The afflicted author

26. Todd Strasser "This is an author who really has his finger on the way kids think, and he never strikes a false note. He's funny. He has a light touch, but through it all you feel his humanity coming through. There's a friend there." -- The New York Times http://www.toddstrasser.com/ Books: CON-fidence HELP! I'M TRAPPED HEAVENLY AGAINST THE ODDS YOUNG ADULT THE WAVE DRIVE ME CRAZY Y2K-9 GIVE A BOY A GUN DON'T GET CAUGHT OTHER BOOKS

27. Biography: http://www.damaris.clara.co.uk/newpage5.htm Books and reviews: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/Rosemary_Sutcl iff.htm http://www.stockton.edu/~roman/fiction/sutcliff.htm Interview: http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/intrvws/sutcliff.htm Rosemary Sutcliff “A great many of Rosemary Sutcliff's books are, perhaps surprisingly, about young men very much involved in the world of action. This is true of what is possibly her best-known work, the Carnegie medal- winning The Eagle of the Ninth which recounts the finding of the standard of the lost and disgraced ninth legion of Rome. It is part of a trilogy which deals with the lead-up to the departure of the Romans from Britain at the start of the Dark Ages.”

28. http://www.childrenslit.com/f_theodoretaylor.html Theodore Taylor http://www.friend.ly.net/scoop/biographies/taylorbooks.html Books: Biography: “Ted began writing at the age of thirteen when he was paid by the Portsmouth Star for reporting on athletics at his high school. Growing up during the depression forced him to take lots of odd jobs…All of these experiences have provided a great storehouse of information for him to draw upon. [for]…writing newspaper columns, books, radio, TV and film scripts.”

29. J.R.R. Tolkien http://www.tolkien.co.uk/frame.asp Biography: Tolkien Timeline http://gollum.usask.ca/tolkien/ Though Tolkien may have died in 1973, the popularity of his work, and the admiration and joy of his fans, has done nothing but grow.

30. Cynthia Voigt http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/k6/voigt.html Bad Girls, Scholastic, Forthcoming. Building Blocks, Athenaeum, 1984. David and Jonathan, Scholastic, 1992. Izzy, Willy Nilly, Athenaeum, 1986. Jackaroo, Athenaeum, 1985. Orfe, Macmillan, 1993. The Runner, Athenaeum, 1985. Solitary Blue, Athenaeum, 1983. Tell Me If the Lovers Are Losers, Athenaeum, 1982. When She Hollers, Scholastic, 1994. The Wings of a Falcon, Scholastic, 1993

31. E.B. White http://www.harperchildrens.com/authorintro/index.asp?a uthorid=10499 E.B. White, the author of twenty books of prose and poetry, was awarded the 1970 Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal for his children’s books, Stuart Little and Charlotte’s Web. This award is now given every three years "to an author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have, over a period of years, make a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children."

32. Jacqueline Woodson Woodson often writes about difficult issues that young people face and characters who feel out of place. "I think, growing up, I felt like I was on the outside a lot; and I think, as a grownup, I've… realized that it's okay to be on the outside," she says. If she has a single message to share with readers, it's that "no matter who you are in the world, it's okay to be who you are." http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hmr/mtai/woodson.html http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hmr/mtai/woodson.html

33. Paul Zindel http://www.carr.lib.md.us/mae/zindel/zindel.htm “The [MAE Award] 2002 MAE award was presented to Paul Zindel. The following books were cited for his lifetime contribution to young adult literature: The Pigman, The Pigman's Legacy, The Pigman & Me, My Darling, My Hamburger, and The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the- Moon Marigolds.”2002 MAE award http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/Paul_Zindel.htm

34. A Few Sources of Middle and High School Literature