“How I Came to Write”: LDS Authors for Young Adults. Jesse S. Crisler and Chris Crowe, Eds. Center for the Study of Christian Values in Literature, 2007. 302p. $15. 978-0-939555-09-3. This reference book contains autobiographical essays from more than fifty LDS authors for teenagers, including A. E. Cannon, Orson Scott
Card, Shannon Hale, Stephenie Meyer, Kristen Randle, and Jack Weyland. Included in the volume is an essay tracing the history of LDS young adult literature.

Sounds like it would be a great stepping off point for anyone interested in knowing who’s LDS and what they’ve written, as well as a look into their writing life.

Thanks for the web site referral. It looks like a very promising lead, indeed. And, definitely, I will look into Shannon Hale.

Naomi (#9),

Thanks to you, too! I’m excited to introduce these new characters to Miss D.

David T, I have a whole list I could recommend, but I’m cramming a lot of work into the last day before we break for Christmas and don’t have time to really post. But you might want to check out Deliciously Clean Reads, a review site operated by a BYU grad in which they review children’s and YA books that don’t have excessive violence, sex, or language. They have a number of reviewers who are interested in all sorts of books, so you might find some good recommendations through that site.

And if she hasn’t read Shannon Hale, she should.

Also, make sure to use your local teen librarian as a resource. They LOVE to make recommendations for particular situations like that.

I wondered why that author sounded familiar. Actually, Montgomery’s “Anne” books are some of the classics I was referring to (I never heard my little girl sob over a book until she read where Matthew died). If the author’s other workss are anywhere near the Anne Shirley ones, I’d definitely run out and get them.

David T–Would your daughter be interested in the L.M. Montgomery books? I was completely enthralled with them from about age 10 to about age 14.

Stephenie Meyers fans: I’m one of you. In fact, I was thinking of posting something about my secret love affair over at Mormon Mentality (but this post may have stolen my thunder). I bought a copy of Twilight for a friend back in September and read the first chapter or so while waiting to give it to her, and then I would read another several pages every time I went back to the bookstore until I broke down and, after discovering that our public library had all copies checked out and on hold for the next 3 months (sounds familiar, bbell), I went to the university library, where the college students hadn’t yet discovered it. And yes, I finished it in about 5 days, my husband laughing at me the whole time. But hey, what’s not to like about an incredibly gorgeous, immortal man falling in love with a completely ordinary girl? That’s just good vicarious living.

Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope you get good books!

Forget the YW, it’s taking our RS by storm! It’s been recommended by word of mouth from one sister to the next, and my wife sequestered herself in the bedroom for about 2 weeks reading that trilogy. It’s like literary crystal meth!