Ellen Emerson White

Last updated

Ellen Emerson White is an American author who has written a number of young adult fiction novels. [1]

Contents

Writing

Ms. White's first book, Friends for Life (1983) was published while she was a senior at Tufts University. White grew up in Narragansett, Rhode Island. Many of her fiction novels feature characters who reside in Boston or are from Boston and are fans of the Boston Red Sox (as White is). White now resides in New York City.

In addition to her fiction novels, White has written both sports biographies and historical fiction/biography books. She wrote four stories about the Echo Company in the midst of the Vietnam War under the pseudonym Zack Emerson. White got the name Zack from the name of her shepherd dog. She has also written the Santa Paws series under the pseudonym Nicolas Edwards.

The young adult characters in White's novels are realistic people who struggle with very difficult lives—whether those lives include war, murder, kidnapping, or some other trouble. The focus of all of her books is on overcoming the difficulties and surviving as a better person. None of her characters' live what could be classified an "ordinary" life, but all are relatable to an "ordinary" person.

Elements of White's stories are connected within her works. For example, the character Trudy (President's Daughter series) is from Brighton, the section of Boston where Molly and Patrick (Where Have All the Flowers Gone?) live. Perhaps the most intricate cross-work involvement occurs with the character Susan McAllister/Dowd. In the final book of the President's Daughter series, Meg's JA at Williams College is Susan, whose 'life'is chronicled in Friends For Life, and Life Without Friends. Another example of these connections is the character of nurse Rebecca Phillips from The Echo Company series, who was romantically connected to an army grunt named Michael Jennings. Rebecca's future is hinted at in both "All Emergencies, Ring Super" and the Santa Paws series when a "Dr. Jennings" is mentioned. In addition, most of White's main characters are animal lovers, as is White.

Published works

Series

The President's Daughter series

  • The President's Daughter (1984)
  • White House Autumn (1985)
  • Long Live the Queen (1989) (Winner: ALA Best Book for Young Adults)
  • Long May She Reign (2007) Released October 2007 by Feiwel & Friends, which is an imprint of Holtzbrinck.)

Echo Company series (as Zack Emerson)

  • Echo Company #1: Welcome to Vietnam (1991)
  • Echo Company #2: Hill 568 (1991)
  • Echo Company #3: 'Tis The Season (1991)
  • Echo Company #4: Stand Down (1992)

Santa Paws series (as Nicholas Edwards)

  • Santa Paws (1991)
  • Return of Santa Paws (1997)
  • Santa Paws to the Rescue (2000)
  • Santa Paws, Come Home (2000)
  • Santa Paws, Our Hero (2002)
  • Santa Paws and the New Puppy (2004)
  • None of the unauthorized books by Kris Edwards (Santa Paws Saves the Day [2005], Santa Paws and the Christmas Storm [2006], and Santa Paws on Christmas Island [2007]) have anything to do with the Santa Paws series, Nicholas Edwards, or Ellen Emerson White.

Friends series

  • Friends for Life (1983)
  • Life Without Friends (1987)

Historical fiction / biography

My Story Series

Titanic: The Diary of Margaret Anne Brady

Sports biographies

  • Bo Jackson: Playing the Games (1990)
  • Jennifer Capriati (1991)
  • Jim Abbott: Against All Odds (1994)
  • Shaquille O'Neal (1994)

Short stories

  • The Boy Next Door (collected in Thirteen)

Other books

  • Romance is a Wonderful Thing (1983)
  • All Emergencies, Ring Super (1998)
  • Santa Paws: The Picture Book (2003)
  • Webster: Tale of an Outlaw (2015)
  • A Season of Daring Greatly (2017)

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tamora Pierce</span> American writer

Tamora Pierce is an American writer of fantasy fiction for teenagers, known best for stories featuring young heroines. She made a name for herself with her first book series, The Song of the Lioness (1983–1988), which followed the main character Alanna through the trials and triumphs of training as a knight.

Susan Eloise Hinton is an American writer best known for her young-adult novels (YA) set in Oklahoma, especially The Outsiders (1967), which she wrote during high school. Hinton is credited with introducing the YA genre.

<i>The Grey King</i> 1975 fantasy novel by Susan Cooper

The Grey King is a contemporary fantasy novel by Susan Cooper, published almost simultaneously by Chatto & Windus and Atheneum in 1975. It is the fourth of five books in her Arthurian fantasy series The Dark is Rising.

Cynthia Voigt is an American writer of books for young adults dealing with various topics such as adventure, mystery, racism and child abuse. Her first book in the Tillerman family series, Homecoming, was nominated for several international prizes and adapted as a 1996 film. Her novel Dicey's Song won the 1983 Newbery Medal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francesca Lia Block</span> American writer (born 1963)

Francesca Lia Block is an American writer of adult and young-adult literature. She is known for the Weetzie Bat series, which she began while a student at UC Berkeley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laurie Halse Anderson</span> American writer (born 1961)

Laurie Halse Anderson is an American writer, known for children's and young adult novels. She received the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 2010 for her contribution to young adult literature and 2023 she received the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.

Nancy Garden was an American writer of fiction for children and young adults, best known for the lesbian novel Annie on My Mind. She received the 2003 Margaret Edwards Award from the American Library Association recognizing her lifetime contribution in writing for teens, citing Annie alone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caroline Stevermer</span> American writer

Caroline Stevermer is an American writer of young adult fantasy novels and shorter works. She is best known for historical fantasy novels.

Peter Abrahams is an American author of crime fiction for both adults and children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Crutcher</span> American novelist and family therapist

Chris Crutcher is an American novelist and a family therapist. He received the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 2000 for his lifetime contribution in writing for teens.

Amelia Holt Atwater-Rhodes, known professionally as Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, is an American author of fantasy and young adult literature and a Language Arts/Literature teacher at Learning Prep School in West Newton, MA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suzanne Collins</span> American television writer and author

Suzanne Collins is an American author and television writer. She is best known as the author of the young adult dystopian book series The Hunger Games. She is also the author of the children's fantasy series The Underland Chronicles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Gantos</span> American author of childrens books

Jack Gantos is an American author of children's books. He is best known for the fictional characters Rotten Ralph and Joey Pigza. Rotten Ralph is a cat who stars in twenty picture books written by Gantos and illustrated by Nicole Rubel from 1976 to 2014. Joey Pigza is a boy with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), featured in five novels from 1998 to 2014.

Gay teen fiction is a subgenre that overlaps with LGBTQ+ literature and young adult literature. This article covers books about gay and bisexual teenage characters who are male.

Dear America is a series of historical fiction novels for children published by Scholastic starting in 1996. By 1998, the series had 12 titles with 3.5 million copies in print. The series was canceled in 2004 with its final release, Hear My Sorrow. However, it was relaunched in the fall of 2010. Each book is written in the form of a diary of a young woman's life during important events or time periods in American history. The Dear America series covers a wide range of topics, including: the Pilgrims' journey to the New World, the Salem Witch Trials, the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, western expansion, slavery, immigration, nineteenth-century prairie life, the California Gold Rush of 1849, the Great Depression, Native Americans' experiences, racism, coal mining, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, the fight for women's suffrage, the sinking of the RMS Titanic, the Battle of the Alamo, the Vietnam War, and more. The breadth of historical topics covered in these books through fiction makes the Dear America series a favorite teaching device of history schoolteachers around the country. The re-launch series and releases contain a new cover style and different pictures of the main characters than those of the original releases. Originally all the books had a ribbon inserted as a bookmark for the books but were removed in the later releases. Several of the stories were filmed and released on videotape.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Peck (writer)</span> American novelist (1934-2018)

Richard Wayne Peck was an American novelist known for his contributions to modern young adult literature. He was awarded the Newbery Medal in 2001 for his novel A Year Down Yonder. He received the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacqueline Woodson</span> American writer

Jacqueline Woodson is an American writer of books for children and adolescents. She is best known for Miracle's Boys, and her Newbery Honor-winning titles Brown Girl Dreaming, After Tupac and D Foster, Feathers, and Show Way. After serving as the Young People's Poet Laureate from 2015 to 2017, she was named the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, by the Library of Congress, for 2018 to 2019. Her novel Another Brooklyn was shortlisted for the 2016 National Book Award for Fiction. She won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2018. She was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2020.

My Name Is America is a series of historical novels published by Scholastic Press. Each book is written in the form of a journal of a fictional young man's life during an important event or time period in American history. The series was discontinued in 2004.

<i>Dangerous Angels</i> Young adult fiction series by Francesca Lia Block

Dangerous Angels, also known as the Weetzie Bat series, is a young adult fiction series by Francesca Lia Block. The series consists of seven novels: Weetzie Bat, Witch Baby, Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys, Missing Angel Juan, Baby Be-Bop, Necklace of Kisses and Pink Smog: Becoming Weetzie Bat. The books follow main character, Weetzie Bat and her friends and family members, who all live in Los Angeles.

The President's Daughter is a series of four young adult novels written by American author Ellen Emerson White. The series tells the story of Meghan “Meg” Powers as she reacts to her mother's presidential campaign and her experiences while living in the White House.

References

  1. "White, Ellen Emerson". WorldCat Identities. Retrieved 6 April 2010.