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Alex Flinn | |
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Born | Glen Cove, New York, U.S. | October 23, 1966
Occupation | Novelist |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | University of Miami |
Period | 2001–present |
Genre | Fantasy, Romance, Fiction |
Spouse | Eugene Flinn |
Children | Katherine Flinn Meredith Flinn |
Alexandra Flinn (born October 23, 1966) is an American writer of novels for young adults. Her books have appeared on the New York Times and USA Today Bestseller lists and have been translated into over twenty foreign languages. Many of her books have made the American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults lists, as well as Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers. [1] Many of her novels are modernized versions of classic fairy tales.
Flinn was born in Long Island, New York and grew up in Syosset, New York and Miami, Florida. At the age of five, she started thinking about being a writer and submitted early efforts to magazines like Highlights , which did not publish them. At twelve, she moved to Palmetto Bay, Florida, a suburb of Miami, where she still lives. She struggled to make friends at her new school, and she has said that this experience inspired much of her writing for young adults, particularly her book, Breaking Point.
She graduated from Miami-Palmetto High School and was in a performing arts program called PAVAC (Performing And Visual Arts Center), which inspired some of her book, Diva. She graduated from the University of Miami with a degree in vocal performance (opera), then went to law school at Nova Southeastern University. [2] She practiced law for 10 years before quitting her day job to devote herself full-time to writing, following the acceptance of her third book.
Speak, published in 1999, is a young adult novel by Laurie Halse Anderson that tells the story of high school freshman Melinda Sordino. After Melinda is raped at an end of summer party, she calls the police, who break up the party. Melinda is then ostracized by her peers because she will not say why she called the police. Unable to verbalize what happened, Melinda nearly stops speaking altogether, expressing her voice through the art she produces for Mr. Freeman's class. This expression slowly helps Melinda acknowledge what happened, face her problems, and recreate her identity.
Terri Windling is an American editor, artist, essayist, and the author of books for both children and adults. She has won nine World Fantasy Awards, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, and the Bram Stoker Award, and her collection The Armless Maiden appeared on the short-list for the James Tiptree, Jr. Award.
Beastly is a 2007 novel by Alex Flinn. It is a retelling of the fairytale Beauty and the Beast set in modern-day New York City from the view of the beast. Flinn researched many versions of the Beauty and the Beast story to write her book. Many of these are playfully alluded to in portions of the book, particularly the chat room transcripts in which the character of Kyle talks to other teens who have been transformed into creatures.
Gallows Hill (1997) is a supernatural thriller novel for young adults by Lois Duncan. It was her first and only young adult novel written after the death of her daughter. It was written eight years after her previous young adult novel, Don't Look Behind You. It is about a girl who moves to a small town with a secret.
What My Mother Doesn't Know (2001) is a novel in verse by Sonya Sones. The free-verse novel follows ninth-grader Sophie Stein as she struggles through the daily grind of being a freshman in high school, her romantic crushes, and her family life. It has been translated into French, German, Indonesian and Swedish, and published as an audiobook read by Kate Reinders.
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Breaking Point is a 2002 young adult novel by Alex Flinn. It was a 'Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers' in 2003.
Dangerous Girls is the first novel in the Dangerous Girls series by R. L. Stine. First published in 2003, the novel was followed by a sequel, The Taste of Night, in 2004. Dangerous Girls has won awards, including the ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers and the New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age.
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One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies (2004) is a novel in verse by Sonya Sones. It is a young adult novel that tells the story of Ruby Milliken who is forced to go live with her famous movie star father, Whip Logan, in Los Angeles when her mother dies. Ruby is taken away from her friends and family, all of which she loves, and is forced to cope in the fake and artificial world of Hollywood. The novel is told mostly in blank verse with periodic interruptions of emails and letters Ruby exchanges with her friends. She soon finds herself torn between her old life and her new life.
The Bluford Series is a widely read collection of contemporary American young adult novels set in the fictional inner-city high school of Bluford High in Southern California. Bluford is named for Guion "Guy" Bluford, the first African-American astronaut. The series was created and published by Townsend Press and was co-distributed by Scholastic. As part of an effort to promote reading in underfunded school districts, Townsend Press originally made the Bluford Series available to schools for a dollar each. As of 2018, over 11 million Bluford Series novels were in print.
Sarah Beth Durst is an American author of fantasy. Her 2016 novel The Queen of Blood won a 2017 Alex Award from the American Library Association. Durst writes for adults, young adults, and middle grade level readers.
Julie C. Dao is a Vietnamese-American fantasy author. She is best known for her debut novel, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns, an East Asian-inspired retelling of the Evil Queen legend from Snow White, and its sequel Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix.
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Mindy McGinnis is an American writer of young adult fiction. Her most notable works include Be Not Far from Me (2020), Heroine (2019), The Female of the Species (2016), and A Madness So Discreet (2015).
Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers is a book list created annually by the Young Adult Library Services Association. The list identifies fiction, nonfiction, and graphic novels that may encourage teenagers who dislike reading to read.
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