I have been reading Ellen Wittlinger in earnest for about 15 years. I causally read and recommended YA throughout my teaching career. I wish I would have done more, but there we are. I knew the early books from the late 1960s and the 1970 quite well, but missed a lot in the 80s and 90s. It certainly has been fun trying to catch up. When I entered graduate school and was given the opportunity to teach a YA course, it has been nonstop reading and enjoyment ever since.
When I began to include a monthly author feature, one of the authors I wanted to reach out to was Ellen. Reading Hard Love was one of the great finds of that early binge reading. Several years later she offered a rich gift to the YA world with Parrotfish. When we connected I was given the opportunity to read her newest novel, Local Girl Swept Away. Occasionally, my wife accuses me of liking everything I read; not true. I am a good reader of reviews and from time to time I don’t finish a novel I start. (A privilege we don’t offer students very often, that adult readers take all of the time.) Without a doubt, Local Girl Swept Away stole my imagination and took me away. This is a complex novel that reminded me of both the adult and YA fiction of Joyce Carol Oates, an author who doesn’t get enough credit for her YA fiction. It also reminds me in tone and theme of E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars.
Local Girl Swept Away is a novel of mystery and intrigue based on the friendship and betrayal of four friends. The novel’s narrator, Jackie moves from an innocent follower to more self aware adolescent who discovers how to nurture her artistic talents. Along the way, the four characters discover their individual strengths and weakness as they learn to stand alone before they can rebuild friendships. This is a novel with excellent characters, great narration, and complex themes that needs to be on your list of recommendations.
When I began to include a monthly author feature, one of the authors I wanted to reach out to was Ellen. Reading Hard Love was one of the great finds of that early binge reading. Several years later she offered a rich gift to the YA world with Parrotfish. When we connected I was given the opportunity to read her newest novel, Local Girl Swept Away. Occasionally, my wife accuses me of liking everything I read; not true. I am a good reader of reviews and from time to time I don’t finish a novel I start. (A privilege we don’t offer students very often, that adult readers take all of the time.) Without a doubt, Local Girl Swept Away stole my imagination and took me away. This is a complex novel that reminded me of both the adult and YA fiction of Joyce Carol Oates, an author who doesn’t get enough credit for her YA fiction. It also reminds me in tone and theme of E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars.
Local Girl Swept Away is a novel of mystery and intrigue based on the friendship and betrayal of four friends. The novel’s narrator, Jackie moves from an innocent follower to more self aware adolescent who discovers how to nurture her artistic talents. Along the way, the four characters discover their individual strengths and weakness as they learn to stand alone before they can rebuild friendships. This is a novel with excellent characters, great narration, and complex themes that needs to be on your list of recommendations.
It would be hard to overstate the power of both Hard Love and Parrotfish. For example, it is high praise when John Green give you credit as a source of inspiration: "Ellen Wittlinger's Hard Love was one of the books that inspired me to write young adult novels." I remember how this novel valued out of school illiteracies and embraced marginalized identities. When I first read Parrotfish, I was amazed by the passion and empathy that existed in the tone of the narration. Wittlinger was another groundbreaking novel that joined Julie Anne Peter’s Luna and a few others that allowed transgendered adolescents to see themselves in books. It is would almost be enough to say that these books just helped kids, but Parrotfish is quality fiction that also happens to be helpful in opening further conversations.
The three novels I have touched on here provide a quality starting point. The rest of her novels offer discussions of complicated issues as well. They range from religious zeal, abuse and murder, and homelessness. It seems to me that if all of these books were on your classroom shelves, most of your students could find something that matched their interests. I think you will enjoy rereading those you know and discover others that will stay with you. Each novel's image in the following slide show also has a link to a review.
Please read below Ellen’s answers to a series of interview questions.
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