Laurie Halse Anderson

Laurie Halse Anderson was born Oct. 23, 1936 in Potsdam. She was born as Laurie Beth Halse. Ms. Anderson for years loved to write, but mostly saw it as her hobby. She tried writing books but kept getting rejected. She then soon became a picture book writer for children. Most of mothers love her picture books, but in 1999 she wrote her most famous book Speak.
The novel was a New York Times and Publisher Weekly bestseller. Speak in the year 2000 was a Printz Honors book. Also in 2003 it became a motion picture. Ms. Anderson’s second book was Catalyst. Many believe that Catalyst is somewhat of a sequel to Speak, mostly because it takes place in the same high school, also takes place a year after the events in Speak, and lastly because we see Melinda Sordino but through someone else’s eyes.
Teenreads.com put Catalyst on its ultimate teen reading list. In 2005 she published Prom. Prom was moving around when on the New York time’s bestsellers list. Prom was nominated for LA best book for teens and won many state awards. In 2007 she published Twisted. Twisted is Ms. Andersons only book that is from a man’s point of view. This book won ALA best book for young teens. Her most recent book Winter Girls Debuted on the New York best seller’s list and got great reviews from publisher weekly, school library journal, booklist, and kirkus. It’s gets a lot of attention because of it’s unflinching and it’s raw perspective on eating disorders.

256