https://padlet.com/ashley_keller4/rsvqdjm6u88t Laurie Halse Anderson en-us 2019-01-28 19:21:12 UTC 2023-02-18 22:25:01 UTC hello@padlet.com ashley_keller4 https://padlet.com/ashley_keller4/rsvqdjm6u88t/wish/325192861 Anderson, L.H. (1999). Speak. New York, NY: Penguin Group.

Speak is by far Anderson's most popular work. Melinda, a high school freshman, starts the year as a total outcast. The story is told from Melinda's point of view which gives a great glimpse into her mind, since Melinda has also stopped speaking since coming back to school. Her parents and teachers are concerned, and the rest of the school completely ignores her. Through Melinda's thoughts and memories we find out that she was responsible for breaking up a summer party by calling the cops, which led to her pariah status. Melinda struggles to find her voice, both figuratively and literally, to stand up for herself against those who are bullying her. Anderson dives into some emotional themes around sexual assault and victim blaming in Melinda's story.]]> 2019-01-28 23:41:32 UTC https://padlet.com/ashley_keller4/rsvqdjm6u88t/wish/325192861 ashley_keller4 https://padlet.com/ashley_keller4/rsvqdjm6u88t/wish/325192883 Anderson, L.H. (2002). Catalyst. New York, NY: Penguin Group.

Catalyst is a story that centers around high school senior, Kate Malone. Kate is known for being a straight A student, math and science genius destined for MIT. In fact, she is so confident she will get into MIT she doesn't apply anywhere else. Things seem to be going well until two unconnected events send Kate's life into a tail spin: her neighbor and nemesis is forced to move in after their house burns down, and she gets a rejection letter from MIT. Without direction and feeling constantly on edge around the unwelcome house guests, Kate tries to keep her life together, hide her lack of college options and make it through her senior year. Kate struggles with the common challenges in Anderson's novels - navigating social status and friendships, dealing with family pressures and finding out that she can't judge those around her based on their outward appearances. ]]> 2019-01-28 23:41:41 UTC https://padlet.com/ashley_keller4/rsvqdjm6u88t/wish/325192883 ashley_keller4 https://padlet.com/ashley_keller4/rsvqdjm6u88t/wish/325192898 Anderson, L.H. (2014). The impossible knife of memory. New York, NY: Penguin Group.

The Impossible Knife of Memory strays a bit from Anderson's common themes but is just as powerful as her other works. This semi-autobiographical work follows Hayley Kincain as she struggles between two worlds. At home she is caretaker to her veteran father who suffers from PTSD. At school she meets Finn, who helps Hayley feel more like a normal teenager. As her father's illness gets worse, She struggles to conceal her fathers drinking and the fact that he has lost his job. At school she pretends that nothing is wrong, covers for her father's failings and puts on an air of nonchalance that is carefully constructed. When her father pushes for them to move to a new town, which has been their normal pattern over the years, Hayley is torn. The themes tackled in this story center around dealing with mental illness as a young person and being thrust into the role of caregiver, and the challenges that come with helping to keep a family together. ]]> 2019-01-28 23:41:49 UTC https://padlet.com/ashley_keller4/rsvqdjm6u88t/wish/325192898 ashley_keller4 https://padlet.com/ashley_keller4/rsvqdjm6u88t/wish/325193109 Laurie Halse Anderson speaks at OCTE: 
In 2015, Anderson was the keynote speaker at the Oregon Conference for Teachers of English. She spoke about her methodology as she embarked on her first historical novel Fever, 1793.]]> 2019-01-28 23:43:47 UTC https://padlet.com/ashley_keller4/rsvqdjm6u88t/wish/325193109 ashley_keller4 https://padlet.com/ashley_keller4/rsvqdjm6u88t/wish/325193121 Anderson's new novel Shout is set to be released March of 2019. She describes the new story as a free-verse autobiography of her own life. She hints at this story giving the origins of her popular work Speak and The Impossible Knife of Memory.]]> 2019-01-28 23:43:51 UTC https://padlet.com/ashley_keller4/rsvqdjm6u88t/wish/325193121 ashley_keller4 https://padlet.com/ashley_keller4/rsvqdjm6u88t/wish/325193139 Laurie Halse Anderson has won two National Book Awards. The first was in 1999 for her book Speak and the second was in 2008 for her historical YA novel Chains. She also made the long list of finalists in 2014.]]> 2019-01-28 23:44:00 UTC https://padlet.com/ashley_keller4/rsvqdjm6u88t/wish/325193139 ashley_keller4 https://padlet.com/ashley_keller4/rsvqdjm6u88t/wish/325193545 In 2009 Anderson won the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association (ALA). The Edwards award recognizes authors who have "made a significant and lasting contribution for writing for teens." ]]> 2019-01-28 23:46:57 UTC https://padlet.com/ashley_keller4/rsvqdjm6u88t/wish/325193545 ashley_keller4 https://padlet.com/ashley_keller4/rsvqdjm6u88t/wish/325193852 Chains won the Scott O'Dell award for historical fiction in 2009. The Scott O'Dell Award aims to bring awareness to historical fiction as a genre to encourage more authors to write historical novels for young audiences. Chains was Anderson's second historical novel, written about the Revolutionary War. ]]> 2019-01-28 23:49:28 UTC https://padlet.com/ashley_keller4/rsvqdjm6u88t/wish/325193852 ashley_keller4 https://padlet.com/ashley_keller4/rsvqdjm6u88t/wish/325235309 Laurie Halse Anderson has written 36 books aimed at students from elementary grades to mature young adult. Her picture books and the Vet Volunteer series are targeted towards elementary students. Her historical fiction novels are targeted at 6th-8th grade students because they are aligned with the common middle school social studies curriculum (early founding of colonies and slavery). Her young adult books appeal to an older audience of 14+ year old students. Most of the main characters in these novels are high school students themselves, who face coming-of-age challenges such as dealing with family pressures, college acceptance, fitting in with peer groups, mental illness and sexual abuse. ]]> 2019-01-29 03:57:38 UTC https://padlet.com/ashley_keller4/rsvqdjm6u88t/wish/325235309 ashley_keller4 https://padlet.com/ashley_keller4/rsvqdjm6u88t/wish/325237233 I think there is a 50/50 chance that students will read Laurie Halse Anderson stories in school or independently. Stories like Fever 1793, Chains and Speak have all become of part of middle and high school curriculums in many places. These stories may be students first exposure to Anderson's writing style and are good stories to be read in schools, especially in the case of Speak where students can be led through some of the more complex themes of sexual assault and victim blaming. Stories like Catalyst and The Impossible Knife of Memory, for example, are more likely to be read independently, I believe partly because they are less common in school and have themes that are easier to relate to for most teenagers. ]]> 2019-01-29 04:10:36 UTC https://padlet.com/ashley_keller4/rsvqdjm6u88t/wish/325237233 ashley_keller4 https://padlet.com/ashley_keller4/rsvqdjm6u88t/wish/325238071 Anderson, L.H. (2014). Chains. New York, NY: Penguin Group.

Chains is the story of two sisters, Isabel and Ruth, who are slaves in the American colonies. Sold from their home in Rhode Island after believing they would be freed, they find themselves in New York, purchased by a family of Loyalists. The story outlines the historical events of 1776 New York and some of the battles between the rebels and loyalists, while also telling the story of being a slave at that same time. The story ends with a segue into the second book in the series, Forge. Written for middle school students, this story is a perfect way to pair social studies curriculum with literature study, looking at both the character development and the historical events that are portrayed. ]]> 2019-01-29 04:18:09 UTC https://padlet.com/ashley_keller4/rsvqdjm6u88t/wish/325238071 ashley_keller4 https://padlet.com/ashley_keller4/rsvqdjm6u88t/wish/325238093 Anderson, L.H. (2007). Twisted. New York, NY: Penguin Group.

Twisted follows Tyler Miller as he tries to navigate his senior year of high school while juggling family pressures, his new-found popularity and the attention of his crush. Throughout the story we find out that Tyler had graffitied the school the prior year, been arrested and sentenced to community service. This earned him the reputation of a bad boy and a lot more attention than he was used to. Tyler also has to deal with the fact that his crush, Bethany Milbury, is not only the daughter of his fathers boss but also the brother of his sworn enemy. At first Tyler enjoys the attention of others but after a party gone awry, Tyler is blamed for more than his share of the trouble since he is the 'bad boy' on probation. Meanwhile, his family is crumbling under the pressure of his dad's work and Tyler's continuing to 'get into trouble' at seemingly every turn. How Tyler and his family navigate life teaches the reader a lot about resilience and working through social and family troubles. ]]> 2019-01-29 04:18:18 UTC https://padlet.com/ashley_keller4/rsvqdjm6u88t/wish/325238093 ashley_keller4 https://padlet.com/ashley_keller4/rsvqdjm6u88t/wish/325242286 Laurie Halse Anderson has been an advocate for students and educators speaking out against literary censorship in schools. Speak has ended up on the challenged or banned list in many places since it was published in 1999 due to its strong content. Twisted was also challenged in 2009. Anderson wrote a poignant response to the district that proposed removing Twisted, which you can read here: (http://madwomanintheforest.com/educators/censorship/challenges-to-twisted/)]]> 2019-01-29 04:49:07 UTC https://padlet.com/ashley_keller4/rsvqdjm6u88t/wish/325242286 ashley_keller4 https://padlet.com/ashley_keller4/rsvqdjm6u88t/wish/327451610 In 2004 Speak was make into a movie. Starring Kristen Stewart as Melinda, the movie was first aired at the Sundance Film Festival before making its way to Showtime and LIfetime. Often, movie versions of a book are not as well done, as was the general opinion of the Speak movie, yet it broadened her exposure to young audiences through one of her most popular stories. ]]> 2019-02-04 18:11:31 UTC https://padlet.com/ashley_keller4/rsvqdjm6u88t/wish/327451610