![]() |
Todd Strasser | |
---|---|
![]() Strasser in 2006 | |
Born | New York City, US | May 5, 1950
Pen name | Morton Rhue; T. S. Rue |
Occupation | Writer, journalist |
Education | College |
Alma mater | Beloit College |
Period | 1979–present (as writer) |
Genre | Children's and young adult fiction, novelizations, romans |
Subject | Literature |
Notable works | Fallout, The Wave, Price of Duty, Give A Boy A Gun |
Signature | |
![]() | |
Website | |
toddstrasser |
Todd Strasser (born May 5, 1950) [1] is an American writer [2] of more than 140 young-adult and middle grade novels and many short stories and works of non-fiction, some written under the pen names Morton Rhue [3] and T.S. Rue.
Strasser was born in New York City. [4] He studied literature and creative writing at New York University and Beloit College, then worked as a reporter for the Middletown Times Herald-Record newspaper, and as a copywriter for Compton Advertising in New York City. [5] His first novel was Angel Dust Blues (1978). [6] He is the father of two children, and an avid tennis player and surfer. [7] In Germany, under the pen name Morton Rhue, [8] he is the best-selling author of such novels as Die Welle,Dschihad Online,Ich knall euch ab!, Boot Camp,No Place, No Home,Ghetto Kidz,Asphalt Tribe, and a number of other titles. In 2008, The Wave (the movie version of Die Welle) starring Jürgen Vogel, debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and went on to become a box office success in many European countries. In November 2019 Netflix released a world-wide series, We Are The Wave, inspired by Strasser's novel. [9]
Strasser's newest novels are Price of Duty (In Germany, American Hero) and Summer of '69. Price of Duty shows how the military uses promises of heroics, teamwork, and excitement to entice young people to enlist despite the life and death risks. The book has received uniformly outstanding reviews and was named an Amazon Young Adult Book of the Month for July, 2018, [10] as well as a 2018 New York Public Library Best Book for Teens. [11]
Summer of '69 is Strasser's autobiographical novel/memoir about his life during the summer of Woodstock, the war in Vietnam, and the first man to set foot on the Moon. It was written for adults and mature teens and explores the culture, drug use, sexual mores, and music of the 1960s, as well as his own problems with the military draft and the rupture to his family caused by a nearly forgotten tragedy many years before. Reviewing for Booklist, Ilene Cooper wrote:"Drugs, sex, and rock 'n' roll, those hallmarks of the summer of 1969, are all here, but there's so much more... The story captures the mood and spirit of the times …The best part transcends eras: Lucas' introspection as he contemplates his place in the world.” [12]
Strasser often writes about timely themes like nuclear war, Nazism, bullying at schools, homelessness, and school shootings. His novel The Wave , written under the pen name Morton Rhue, is a novelization of the teleplay by Johnny Dawkins for the 1981 television movie The Wave. Both the novel and the television movie are fictionalized accounts of the "Third Wave" teaching experiment by Ron Jones in a Cubberley High School history class in Palo Alto, California. The novel has been translated into more than a dozen languages and is read in many schools around the world.
His 2014 novel, Fallout, is part memoir and part speculative fiction featuring nuclear war that results from the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. A review in The New York Times called it "Exciting, harrowing ... Superb entertainment ... It thrums along with finely wrought atmosphere and gripping suspense." [13]
Strasser's works have sometimes proved to be controversial. Recently, his novel American Terrorist was withdrawn from publication in the United States after an uproar about it caused by a brief description of the book which appeared on Goodreads. The novel has been published in Germany under the title Dschihad Online, and in France with the title Djihad Online.
Strasser is the author of the Time Zone High trilogy, How I Changed My Life, How I Created My Perfect Prom Date, and How I Spent My Last Night on Earth. How I Created My Perfect Prom Date was adapted for the feature film Drive Me Crazy , starring Adrian Grenier and Melissa Joan Hart.
Other novels for young adults include The Accident, which became the television movie Over the Limit, as well as Angel Dust Blues, Friends Till the End, and A Very Touchy Subject. The latter also became a television movie, entitled Can a Guy Say No? Another novel, Workin' For Peanuts, was adapted to a television movie with the same title.
A trilogy of mystery thrillers for older young adult readers includes Wish You Were Dead, Blood on My Hands, and Kill You Last.
Strasser has also written a number of young adult series, including Impact Zone (about surfing), Drift X (about drift car competitions), and Here Comes Heavenly (about a punk nanny with magical powers).
His books for middle-graders include CON-fidence, The Diving Bell, and Abe Lincoln for Class President. His series for middle graders include the 17-book Help! I'm Trapped... collection, as well as the Don't Get Caught, Against the Odds, and Camp Run-A-Muck books. He wrote Is That a Dead Dog in Your Locker?, Is That a Sick Cat in Your Backpack?, Is That a Glow-In-The-Dark Bunny in Your Pillow Case?, Is That an Angry Penguin in Your Gym Bag?, and Is That an Unlucky Leprechaun In Your Lunch?
His Kids' Books series of E-books includes The Kids' Book of Gross Facts and Feats (two volumes), The Kids' Book of Weird Science, The Kids' Book of Stupendously Stupid Stunts, The Kids' Book of Really Dumb American Criminals, The Kids' Book of Amazing Sports Facts and Feats, The Kids' Book of Funny Animal Jokes, and others.
Strasser has published articles and short stories in The New Yorker , Esquire , and The New York Times .
Fallout (2013)
No Place (2014)
If I Grow Up (2009)
Boot Camp (2007)
Can't Get There From Here (2004)
Give A Boy A Gun (2001)
Wish You Were Dead (2009)
Title | Publisher | Publication date | ISBN | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Angel Dust Blues | Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, Inc. | 1979 | ISBN 0-698-20485-9/ ISBN 978-0-698-20485-0 | Todd Strasser's first novel. |
Friends Till the End | Delacorte Press | 1981 | ISBN 0-440-02750-0/ ISBN 978-0-440-02750-8 | |
The Wave | Dell | 1981 | ISBN 0-14-037188-5 | Novelization of the 1981 ABC television film The Wave ; Todd Strasser's first novelization. |
Rock 'N' Roll Nights | Delacorte Press | 1982 | ISBN 0-440-07407-X/ ISBN 978-0-440-07407-6 | |
Workin' for Peanuts | Delacorte Press | 1983 | ISBN 0-440-09401-1/ ISBN 978-0-440-09401-2 | |
Turn It Up! | Delacorte Press | 1984 | ISBN 0-385-29282-1/ ISBN 978-0-385-29282-5 | Sequel to Rock 'N' Roll Nights. |
The Complete Computer Popularity Program | Delacorte Press | 1984 | ISBN 0-385-29352-6/ ISBN 978-0-385-29352-5 | |
A Very Touchy Subject | Delacorte Press | 1985 | ISBN 0-385-29378-X/ ISBN 978-0-385-29378-5 | |
Ferris Bueller's Day Off | Signet Books | June 1986 | ISBN 0-451-14535-6/ ISBN 978-0-451-14535-2 | Novelization of the 1986 Paramount Pictures film Ferris Bueller's Day Off . |
Wildlife | Delacorte Press | 1987 | ISBN 0-385-29560-X/ ISBN 978-0-385-29560-4 | Sequel to Rock 'N' Roll Nights and Turn It Up!. |
The Mall from Outer Space | Scholastic | October 1987 | ISBN 0-590-40319-2/ ISBN 978-0-590-40319-1 | |
The Family Man | St. Martin's Press | February 1988 | ISBN 0-312-01427-9/ ISBN 978-0-312-01427-8 | Strasser's first adult fiction. |
The Accident | Delacorte Press | 1988 | ISBN 0-440-50061-3/ ISBN 978-0-440-50061-2 | Adapted for television as an installment of the series ABC Afterschool Special (Season 18, Episode 5 "Over the Limit") (1990). |
Cookie | Signet Books | 1989 | ISBN 0-451-15991-8/ ISBN 978-0-451-15991-5 | Novelization of the 1989 Warner Bros. film Cookie . |
Pink Cadillac | Signet Books | May 1989 | ISBN 0-451-16356-7/ ISBN 978-0-451-16356-1 | Novelization of the 1989 film Pink Cadillac . |
Beyond the Reef | Delacorte Press | September 1989 | ISBN 0-385-29782-3/ ISBN 978-0-385-29782-0 | Illustrations by Debbe Heller. |
Moving Target | Fawcett Juniper Books | September 1989 | ISBN 0-449-70324-X/ ISBN 978-0-449-70324-3 | Co-written with Dennis Freeland. |
Home Alone | Scholastic | January 1991 | ISBN 0-590-44668-1/ ISBN 978-0-590-44668-6 | Novelization of the 1990 20th Century Fox film Home Alone . |
The Diving Bell | Scholastic | May 1992 | ISBN 0-590-44620-7/ ISBN 978-0-590-44620-4 | |
Honey, I Blew Up the Kid | Scholastic | 1992 | ISBN 0-590-55362-3/ ISBN 978-0-590-55362-9 | Novelization of the 1992 Walt Disney Pictures film Honey, I Blew Up the Kid . |
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York | Scholastic | November 1992 | ISBN 0-590-45717-9/ ISBN 978-0-590-45717-0 | Novelization of the 1992 20th Century Fox film Home Alone 2: Lost in New York . |
The Good Son | Pocket Books | 1993 | ISBN 0-671-86751-2/ ISBN 978-0-671-86751-5 | Novelization of the 1993 20th Century Fox film The Good Son . |
Hocus Pocus | Disney Press | 1993 | ISBN 1-56282-373-6/ ISBN 978-1-56282-373-3 | Novelization of the 1993 Walt Disney Pictures film Hocus Pocus . |
Super Mario Bros. | Hyperion Books | 1993 | ISBN 1-56282-471-6/ ISBN 978-1-56282-471-6 | Novelization of the 1993 Hollywood Pictures film Super Mario Bros. . |
Free Willy | Scholastic | July 1993 | ISBN 0-590-46756-5/ ISBN 978-0-590-46756-8 | Novelization of the 1993 Warner Bros. film Free Willy . |
Rookie of the Year | The Trumpet Club | September 1993 | ISBN 0-440-40910-1/ ISBN 978-0-440-40910-6 | Novelization of the 1993 20th Century Fox film Rookie of the Year . |
The Three Musketeers | Disney Press | 1993 | ISBN 1-56282-590-9/ ISBN 978-1-56282-590-4 | Novelization of the 1993 Walt Disney Pictures film The Three Musketeers . |
Freaked | The Trumpet Club | October 1993 | ISBN 0-440-40908-X/ ISBN 978-0-440-40908-3 | Novelization of the 1993 20th Century Fox film Freaked . |
Addams Family Values | Pocket Books | December 1993 | ISBN 0-671-88036-5/ ISBN 978-0-671-88036-1 | Novelization of the 1993 Paramount Pictures film Addams Family Values . |
The Beverly Hillbillies | HarperPaperbacks | 1993 | ISBN 0-06-100710-2/ ISBN 978-0-06-100710-1 | Novelization of the 1993 20th Century Fox film The Beverly Hillbillies . |
Walt Disney's Lady and the Tramp | Disney Press | 1994 | ISBN 1-56282-614-X/ ISBN 978-1-56282-614-7 | Novelization of the 1955 Walt Disney Animation Studios film Lady and the Tramp . |
3 Ninjas Kick Back | Scholastic | March 1994 | ISBN 0-590-48450-8/ ISBN 978-0-590-48450-3 | Novelization of the 1994 film 3 Ninjas Kick Back . |
Walt Disney's Peter Pan | Disney Press | 1994 | ISBN 1-56282-640-9/ ISBN 978-1-56282-640-6 | Novelization of the 1953 Walt Disney Animation Studios film Peter Pan . |
The Pagemaster | Scholastic | November 1994 | ISBN 0-590-20243-X/ ISBN 978-0-590-20243-5 | Novelization of the 1994 film The Pagemaster . |
Miracle on 34th Street | Scholastic | November 1994 | ISBN 0-590-22506-5/ ISBN 978-0-590-22506-9 | Novelization of the 1994 20th Century Fox film Miracle on 34th Street . |
Richie Rich | Scholastic | December 1994 | ISBN 0-590-25092-2/ ISBN 978-0-590-25092-4 | Novelization of the 1994 Warner Bros. film Richie Rich . |
Street Fighter | Newmarket Press | December 1994 | ISBN 1-557-04224-1/ ISBN 978-1-55704-224-8 | Novelization of the 1994 Universal Pictures film Street Fighter . |
Please Don't Be Mine, Julie Valentine! | Scholastic | January 1995 | ISBN 0-590-48153-3/ ISBN 978-0-590-48153-3 | |
Man of the House | Disney Press | March 1995 | ISBN 0-7868-4040-4/ ISBN 978-0-7868-4040-3 | Novelization of the 1995 Walt Disney Pictures film Man of the House . |
Tall Tale: The Unbelievable Adventures of Pecos Bill | Disney Press | April 1995 | ISBN 0-7868-4011-0/ ISBN 978-0-7868-4011-3 | Novelization of the 1995 Walt Disney Pictures film Tall Tale . |
Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home | Scholastic | July 1995 | ISBN 0-590-25227-5/ ISBN 978-0-590-25227-0 | Novelization of the 1995 Warner Bros. film Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home . |
The Amazing Panda Adventure | Scholastic | August 1995 | ISBN 0-590-55205-8/ ISBN 978-0-590-55205-9 | Novelization of the 1995 Warner Bros. film The Amazing Panda Adventure . |
Jumanji | Scholastic | December 1995 | ISBN 0-590-67910-4/ ISBN 978-0-590-67910-7 | Novelization of the 1995 TriStar Pictures film Jumanji . |
How I Created My Perfect Prom Date. | Simon & Schuster | September 1996 | ISBN 0-689-80482-2/ ISBN 978-0-689-80482-3 | Originally published as Girl Gives Birth to Own Prom Date; later adapted into the film Drive Me Crazy (1999). |
Howl-A-Ween | 1996 | |||
Hey Dad, Get a Life! | Holiday House | October 1996 | ISBN 0-823-41278-4/ ISBN 978-0-823-41278-5 | |
A Horse Called Farmer | 1997 | |||
Abe Lincoln for Class President! | 1997 | |||
Home Alone 3 | Scholastic | December 1997 | ISBN 0-590-95712-0/ ISBN 978-0-590-95712-0 | Novelization of the 1997 20th Century Fox film Home Alone 3 . |
Kidnap Kids | 1998 | |||
Byte Barkley: Secret Agent K-9 | 1999 | |||
Drive Me Crazy | 1999 | |||
Give a Boy a Gun | Simon & Schuster | 2000 | ISBN 0-689-84893-5 | |
Con-Fidence | 2002 | |||
Thief of Dreams | Putnam Juvenile | 2003 | ISBN 0-399-23135-8 | |
Can't Get There from Here | Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing | 2004 | ISBN 0-689-84169-8 | |
Slide or Die | Simon Pulse | 2006 | ISBN 1-4169-0581-2 | |
Cheap Shot | 2007 | |||
Boot Camp | 2007 | |||
Is That A Glow-in-the-Dark Bunny In Your Pillowcase? | 2007 | |||
Is That a Sick Cat in Your Backpack? | 2007 | |||
Is That A Dead Dog In Your Locker? | 2008 | |||
If I Grow Up | 2009 | |||
Is That an Angry Penguin in Your Gym Bag? | 2009 | |||
Is That an Unlucky Leprechaun in Your Lunch? | 2009 | |||
Famous | 2011 | |||
Trailer Girl | 2013 | |||
Fallout | 2013 | |||
No Place | 2014 | |||
The Beast of Cretacea | 2015 | |||
The Case of the Murderous Young Millionairess | 2016 | |||
American Terrorist | 2016 | ISBN 1-481-46133-8/ ISBN 978-1-481-46134-4 | Fictional story about two brothers divided against each other during an FBI sting operation. Removed from print. | |
Price of Duty | 2018 | |||
Summer of '69 | 2019 | |||
The Good War | 2021 |
Alex Sanchez is a Mexican American author of award-winning novels for teens and adults. His first novel, Rainbow Boys (2001), was selected by the American Library Association (ALA), as a Best Book for Young Adults. Subsequent books have won additional awards, including the Lambda Literary Award. Although Sanchez's novels are widely accepted in thousands of school and public libraries in America, they have faced a handful of challenges and efforts to ban them. In Webster, New York, removal of Rainbow Boys from the 2006 summer reading list was met by a counter-protest from students, parents, librarians, and community members resulting in the book being placed on the 2007 summer reading list.
Aidan Chambers is a British author of children's and young-adult novels. He won both the British Carnegie Medal and the American Printz Award for Postcards from No Man's Land (1999). For his "lasting contribution to children's literature" he won the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2002.
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.
Cut is a 2000 novel by Patricia McCormick, targeted at young adults. In 2002 it was named one of the ALA's "Best Books for Young Adults" for that year.
Sharon Mills Draper is an American children's writer, professional educator, and the 1997 National Teacher of the Year. She is a five-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Award for books about the young and adolescent African-American experience. She is known for her Hazelwood and Jericho series, Copper Sun,Double Dutch, Out of My Mind and Romiette and Julio.
Lisa McMann is an American author and the creator of The Unwanteds and The Unwanteds Quests series for young readers and the WAKE trilogy for young adults.
Mari Mancusi, sometimes credited as Marianne Mancusi, is an American author of middle grade young adult and new adult novels and former Emmy Award winning television news producer.
Thirteen Reasons Why is a young adult novel written by Jay Asher in 2007, which follows the story of Hannah Baker, a high school freshman, and the thirteen reasons why she has died by suicide. Following her death, Hannah leaves behind a series of seven double-sided cassette tapes detailing the thirteen specific people and events that she blames for her demise. Two weeks after her death, these cassette tapes are mailed out with directions to pass the tapes on to the next person on the tape. Hannah's life story is conveyed through these tapes, which are narrated by Hannah herself, and through the point of view of Clay, her classmate and the ninth person to receive the tapes. The inspiration behind the main character, Hannah Baker, comes from author Jay Asher's close relative who attempted suicide.
Margaret Stiefvater is an American writer of young adult fiction. She is best known for her fantasy series The Wolves of Mercy Falls and The Raven Cycle.
Stephanie Kuehn is an American author of young adult fiction, best known for her William C. Morris Award-winning debut novel Charm & Strange, Delicate Monsters, and Complicit. Her novels often explore themes of mental illness and psychology.
Emily Jenkins, who sometimes uses the pen name E. Lockhart, is an American writer of children's picture books, young-adult novels, and adult fiction. She is known best for the Ruby Oliver quartet, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, and We Were Liars.
Amy Sarig King is an American writer of short fiction and young adult fiction. She is the recipient of the 2022 Margaret A. Edwards Award for her "significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature."
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.
The Compound is a 2008 fictional young adult novel by S. A. Bodeen. The book was first released on April 29, 2008, through Feiwel & Friends and centers upon a young man named Eli who has been living in a compound for six years. Bodeen came up with the idea of including cannibalism in the novel after watching a television show where "a dinosaur fed a favorite offspring the bodies of its less fortunate brothers and sisters."
Isabel Quintero is an American writer of young adult literature, poetry and fiction.
You Should See Me in a Crown is a debut young adult novel by Leah Johnson, published by Scholastic in June 2020. The book was given a Stonewall Book honor, and TIME magazine named it one of the best 100 young adult books of all time.
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.
Jennifer Lynn Barnes is an American writer of young adult novels.
Kiss Number 8 is a 2019 graphic novel written by Colleen A. F. Venable, illustrated by Ellen T. Crenshaw, and published by First Second Books. In 2019, the novel was longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. The following year, it was a finalist for an Eisner Award and Prism Award.
The American Library Association's Great Graphic Novels for Teens, established in 2007, is an annual list presented by Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) division of graphic novels and illustrated nonfiction geared toward individuals ages 12–18.