TLA: Helen Frost

Time to catch up on the Round Up.
Next up, Helen Frost!

In a biographical essay written for Something About the Author, Helen Frost writes that she was born “in the middle of a century, in the middle of a continent and... in the middle of a family.” Anyone familiar with her work knows there is very little “middle-ish” about Helen Frost. She is a prolific writer who doesn’t feel the bounds of genre. Her works encompass everything from plays and poetry for adults, juvenile nonfiction series like “All about Pets” (Pebble Books, 2001); and novels in verse for young adults.

Her works have received critical acclaim. A recent Kirkus reviewer commented on Crossing Stones (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2009) “With care and precision, Frost deftly turns plainspoken conversations and the internal monologues of her characters into stunning poems that combine to present three unique and thoughtful perspectives on war, family, love and loss. Heartbreaking yet ultimately hopeful…” In reviewing the Printz Honor book Keesha’s House ((Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2003), reviewer Hazel Rochman notes Frost’s remarkable ability to create “dramatic monologues that are personal, poetic and immediate.”

There have been many awards for Frost’s work, including the naming of her 2004 title Keesha’s House as an American Library Association Printz Honor book and The Braid (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2006) as a Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award Honor book, among many others.

In addition to her writing, Frost has traveled and taught extensively, from Scotland to Alaska and all areas in between. Her work in the violence prevention program, part of the Fort Wayne Dance Collective, resulted in a collection of student’s writings eventually made into a play called "Why Darkness Seems So Light" and is the basis for her book, When I Whisper, Nobody Listens; Helping Young People Talk about Difficult Issues (Heinemann, 2001). Look for this title and more of her novels in verse, including the newly released Hidden (Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2011).

Frost lives in Fort Wayne Indiana with her husband, children and grandchildren. When not writing she enjoys hiking, kayaking and raising monarch butterflies.




Here, Frost shares poignant excerpts from Crossing Stones, her novel in verse set during World War I, weaving together love and loss, innocence and sacrifice, through the points of view of four main characters. So powerful!




Image credit: SV; Marianne Follis

Thanks to Marianne Follis for research and writing our intros!



Posting (not poem) by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2011. All rights reserved.


TLA: Margarita Engle

Time to catch up on the Round Up.
Next up, Margarita Engle!

As a child growing up in Los Angeles, Margarita Engle’s days were filled with the lush language and stories of Cuba. Despite her own creative nature and the nurturing of her artist parents, Margarita studied science and eventually became an associate professor of agronomy at California Polytechnic University. It wasn’t until years later, after marriage and children, that Margarita revisited writing.

The publication of a poem lead to two adult novels, Singing to Cuba (Arte Publico, 1993) and Skywriting (Bantam, 1995). When faced with a difficult writing period during the creation of Juan Francisco Manzo’s biography, she revisited poetry. The resulting work, The Poet Slave of Cuba (Henry Holt, 2006), received numerous awards, including the American Library Association’s Pura Belpre Medal. Reviewers praised Poet Slave calling the work “powerful” and remarking on the “impressive synergy between poetry and biography.”

Engle prefers to write with “old fashioned” paper and pen. Sometimes she helps her husband, who leads search and rescue dog training, by being “lost” in the forest. “Sometimes I hide for hours, and I always take paper and pens with me. There is no place more suited to poetry than the wilderness. Anything can happen.”

What has happened has been the creation of an impressive body of work. To date Engle has produced two adult novels; and several titles for youth including

• The Poet Slave of Cuba
• The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom
• Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba
• The Firefly Letters: A suffragette’s journey to Cuba
• Hurricane Dancers: The First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck

As for the inspiration of much of Engle’s work, Cuba, she tries to visit whenever she can. “I have been to Cuba many times since 1991, when travel restrictions were eased by the Cuban government. Since travel is still severely restricted by the U.S. government, it is always an ordeal trying to get permission from both countries at the same time.” Her readers, however, get to experience Cuba through her words. As the 2009 Pura Belpré Committee Chair Claudette McLinn noted, “Engle’s prose breathes life into each character, and her rich use of language catapults the reader into the jungles of Cuba.”




Here Margarita reads from her newest work, Hurricane Dancers, a powerful story set in the early 1500’s about a slave named Quebrado, a Spanish pirate named Bernardo de Talavera, and a hostage named Alonso de Ojeda and their intertwining fates when all three are stranded on an island after a hurricane destroys their ship.


Image credit: SV; Marianne Follis

Thanks to Marianne Follis for research and writing our intros!



Posting (not poem) by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2011. All rights reserved.


TLA: Julia Durango

Time to catch up on the Round Up.
Next up, Julia Durango!

Julia Durango’s life is all about books; as a librarian, as an author, and as one of the “chicks” of the Three Silly Chicks blog, where she works alongside fellow authors Andrea Beaty and Carolyn Crimi. Their motto: “We read, write and review funny books for kids.”

Having spent her childhood moving around, Julia finally settled in Chicago to attend the University of Illinois where she studied Political Science and Latin American Studies. The degree resulted in her spending a great deal of time working with homeless children in Columbia. Julia’s passion for the land and people of Latin America lead to her first work, Peter Claver, Patron Saint of Slaves (Paulist Press, 2002).

Her publishing career continued with Dream Hop (Simon & Schuster, 2005); Yum Yuck (with Linda Sue Park) (Charlesbridge Publishing, 2005); Cha-Cha- Chimps (Simon & Schuster 2006); Angels Watching Over Me (adapted) (Simon &Schuster 2007); Pest Fest (Simon & Schuster, 2007); Walls of Cartagena (juvenile fiction) (Simon & Schuster, 2008); Sea of the Dead (juvenile fiction) (Simon & Schuster, 2009); Go-Go Gorillas (Simon & Schuster, 2010); and two upcoming releases; Under the Mambo Moon (Charlesbridge Publishing, 2011) and Dream Away (Simon & Schuster, 2011).

Reviews for Durango’s books repeat praises for her lively upbeat and bouncing text. A Kirkus review of Pest Fest called her verse “jaunty” and claimed this “clever and appealing” book “begs to be read aloud.” School Library Journal described Cha-Cha Chimp “rollicking” and “rhythmic,” closing with “the cha-cha-cha chant and upbeat artwork make this book a good storytime addition.” Kirkus noted, “Durango's dancing rhyme is infectious.”

She currently lives in Ottawa, Illinois, with her family and dog Sancho who “loves to sit on flowers.” Her time is spent with her two “silly boys,” her job as a school librarian, her other job as an author and her blog. Every night in her “spare time” she reads and does a crossword puzzle. She states, “Nerdy-girl habits die hard.”



Here, Julia reads from her new book, Under the Mambo Moon, and talks about the role and influence of music in this book. It's a wonderful, unique book-- part novel in verse with free verse passages illustrated with black and white images which weave together lively poems accompanied by full page color art (all art by Fabricio VandenBroeck).



Image credit: SV; Marianne Follis

Thanks to Marianne Follis for research and writing our intros.



Posting (not poem) by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2011. All rights reserved.