What the readers of SPEAK mean to me
Last week a special issue of Shelf Awareness focused on the new REALITY Reads campaign that Macmillan has put together. If you like contemporary YA lit, or you work with teens, you want to check this out.
That special issue also has a great article about Joy Peskin, the editorial director of FS&G (and my editor), as well as a short piece by me about the impact that SPEAK’s readers have had on me.
Enjoy!
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I LOVE and completely agree with the quote!
Deniz wrote: "I agree with the quote.. When I was reading Wintergirls I put the book down, and I silently screamed into the air. It just happened unintentionally, and I knew I had to put the book down because kn..."I am honored by your comments. Thank you!
But the next day when I finished it it gave me hope. "I am thawing." My heart fills with warmth and love when I hear about others' gaining of hope. And others' recoveries, at least wanting/trying to recover. It makes me feel more hopeful as well..
And that's how it was a real book. Because i felt pain when i was in the middle of it. It got hard for me to breath at times, and in the end i was filled with happiness. It made me FEEL.
Wintergirls really spoke to me, because I felt close to what Lia was struggling with. So I'm sure Speak feels real to people who have suffered from similar problems; not just rape but being misunderstood, lonely, clanless..
That's what I love about Laurie Halse Anderson's writing. You can relate to the character, and you feel they're real. And to me, and I'm sure to many others; Kate, Lia, Melinda, Tyler and many other characters in her stories ARE real. I'm glad to have entered the world of her writing..