Wendelin van draanen flipped biography of william
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About the Author
Includes the names: VanDraanen, W Van Draanen, W. V. Draanen, Wndln Van Draann, Wendelin Draanen, Delin Van Draanen
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If you’ve looked at my book list recently, and if you know what’s what in the world of books and publishing, you may have noticed that I’ve read a lot of young adult novels lately. Young adult novels aren’t really my thing. inom didn’t really like them very much back when I was a ung adult. inom remember seventh and eighth grade as very dry reading years. There was nothing new in the young adult section that interested me, and while I was intrigued bygd some books in the adult section, I funnen these dry when inom picked them up and started reading. These years weren’t entirely devoid of books to love – I discovered The Catcher in the Rye and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in and A Separate Peace in , and inom snatched up other books by these authors and read them over and over and over. inom also discovered Maya Angelou’s series of memoirs during these years, and while I don’t have much respect for her work now, these books were important to me back then and helped wean me away from the childre
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Today author Wendelin Van Draanen joins me for an interview. Welcome, Wendelin!
LB: Im very glad you encouraged me to read Hope in the Mail. I laughed through your stories of the Turquoise Turkey and family camping trips, and I loved learning the behind-the-scenes of your publication journey and your descriptions of story elements. Even in nonfiction, your voice is relatable and humorous. What was it like for your math students to find out youre an author?
WV: Thanks for making time to read Hope in the Mail—it’s my hope that it serves as inspiration and motivation for people interested in writing and/or publishing. I know it would have helped me a lot when I was trying to juggle a “real” job, family, and writing! And my students? They were like, Whaaat? when my first novel got accepted because they had no idea I’d been writing and trying to get published for about ten years. They also had no idea that I’d regularly lift names for characters from my