Introducing Aaron Levy and his novel, Blood Don't Lie.

11/3/2017

One of the things I really like about hosting this blog is the opportunity to introduce new authors. Here I go again.

A couple of months ago, Laura Renzi, the current ALAN President, asked me to review a book for this year’s ALAN Workshop. She asked me to review a first novel by a new writer. Well, not a new writer, but a new novelist. I am not sure, but I don’t think Laura knew that Aaron Levy and I have known each other for over ten years. Many of the ALAN members know Aaron as a university professor and a playwright. He is the author of the young adult play, Pizza with Shrimp on Top.
I already had a copy of Aaron’s novel and he and I had talked about highlighting it on Dr. Bickmore’s YA Wednesday at some point. Now is the right time as we get ready to attend NCTE and ALAN.

Blood Don’t Like is a wonderful new addition to YA coming of age fiction. Aaron was kind enough to make sure I had a copy. I have to say, not all book covers draw me into the book. In this case, however, the cover was clearly a teaser for the action and the trouble to come. For the plot of the book, Aaron draws on his Jewish heritage to heighten the tension of this coming of age story. I was impressed how the book draws on the themes of religion, bullying, war, violence, and family. As you can tell, I am trying to figure out how to talk about this book in thirty seconds. This is probably impossible. In my mind, this book deserves more than 30 seconds. It deserves the time you need to read it.

You should follow Aaron on Facebook and on twitter @AaronHLevy. His book getting quite of bit of play in Georgia, where he lives. My guess, is that he would be willing to visit schools in a lot of places.

Below, you can find Aaron’s answers to my interview questions. If you are at NCTE and ALAN, I am sure that Aaron would be willing to answer more questions.

Thanks for following. If you would like to contribute a post or you know an author I should cover, please contact me at [email protected]

Dr. Steve Bickmore
Creator and Curator

Dr. Bickmore is a Professor of English Education at UNLV. He is a scholar of Young Adult Literature and past editor of The ALAN Review and a past president of ALAN. He is a available for speaking engagements at schools, conferences, book festivals, and parent organizations. More information can be found on the Contact page and the About page.

Dr. Gretchen Rumohr
Co-Curator

Gretchen Rumohr is a professor of English and writing program administrator at Aquinas College, where she teaches writing and language arts methods. She is also a Co-Director of the UNLV Summit on the Research and Teaching of Young Adult Literature. She lives with her four girls and a five-pound Yorkshire Terrier in west Michigan.

Bickmore's
Co-Edited Books

Meet
Evangile Dufitumukiza!

Evangile is a native of Kigali, Rwanda. He is a college student that Steve meet while working in Rwanda as a missionary. In fact, Evangile was one of the first people who translated his English into Kinyarwanda.

Steve recruited him to help promote Dr. Bickmore's YA Wednesday on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media while Steve is doing his mission work.

He helps Dr. Bickmore promote his academic books and sometimes send out emails in his behalf.

You will notice that while he speaks fluent English, it often does look like an "American" version of English. That is because it isn't. His English is heavily influence by British English and different versions of Eastern and Central African English that is prominent in his home country of Rwanda.

Welcome Evangile into the YA Wednesday community as he learns about Young Adult Literature and all of the wild slang of American English vs the slang and language of the English he has mastered in his beautiful country of Rwanda.

While in Rwanda, Steve has learned that it is a poor English speaker who can only master one dialect and/or set of idioms in this complicated language.

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