Thursday, January 8, 2009

VIBES is an ALAN Quick Pick!

Hooray for Kristi Carmichael, who is edging her way into the hearts of English teachers everywhere! Here's what ALAN had to say about our heroine:

"The main character’s original personality and outlook are intriguing. Her flaws are believable and relatable, two essential qualities in young adult literature."

To read the entire review, go here:

http://www.alan-ya.org/2009/01/alans-picks-january-2009/

Lots of people start out the book not quite liking Kristi, which doesn't surprise me one bit. Kristi is snarky at best, and downright mean at her worst. I wanted to take on the challenge of writing a story about a heroine who is strong, deeply flawed, and hurting inside so that she has room to grow. Kristi certainly has PLENTY of room.

My favorite books have always been about female characters who weren't completely wonderful people. Meg Murray in the Time Trilogy is stubborn, difficult, and negative. Star Girl is almost supernaturally loving, yet totally clueless about how she presents herself to other people. And lately, Kristin Cashore's heroine, Katsa the Graceling, allows herself to be used by a ruthless king to do terrible violence to others. All these girls begin their stories in some pretty sad circumstances, and they have to grow as people in order to get themselves out of the messes that have risen around them.

Kristi Carmichael is no different. She's an angry person, but she has reason to be. For a while, her anger protected her from the selfish neglect of her parents and friends. But through the course of the story, she learns that her anger is actually doing more harm than good. She's got to let down her guard so that she can let good things happen to her too. It's risky to write a story about a deeply flawed person, because you run the risk of the reader not liking her. But I'm not sure I want to write about thoroughly likable people. The most interesting people I know in life are prickly around the edges, and problematic. But it's almost always fun getting to know them.

Let's hear it for difficult women everywhere! Hurray!!!

1 Comments:

Blogger Lalaland said...

Congratulation! =D

January 8, 2009 5:11 PM  

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