Chapters: My Growth as a Writer
 First edition | |
| Author | Lois Duncan |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Little, Brown |
Publication date | March 1982 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 263 |
| ISBN | 0-316-19552-9 |
| OCLC | 7977698 |
| LC Class | PS3554.U464 Z463 |
Chapters: My Growth as a Writer is a 1982 autobiography by Lois Duncan.[1]
Contents[edit]
In Chapters: My Growth as a Writer, Duncan describes how she included real life experiences in her short stories. Her stories include "The Fairy in the Woods", which she wrote when she was 10 and was rejected by all of the magazines she submitted the story to, and "The Reason", which she wrote at age 13 and was accepted for publication. Duncan also recounts her transition from writing short stories and poems for magazines to writing her first books.[1][2]
Reception[edit]
In 1982, the novel was selected as an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults.[3] Terry Lawhead from the School Library Journal thought the autobiography "reads easily, like one of her novels" and that "she has a good hold on her adolescence".[4] Zena Sutherland, writing for the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books stated that Duncan "writes with candor and discernment, in an easy, flowing style."[1] Iris McClellan Tiedt wrote in the English Journal that the book "is good reading for anyone, but it offers an especially wonderful model for aspiring young authors." She stated she has 'often recommended it to individual students of promise for its realism, its account of persistence (Duncan submitted consistently for three years before she received that first acceptance), its wisdom ("Every experience you have is stored away inside you, to draw upon as you need it for your writing"), its authentic voice, its record of growth over time.'[2]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c Sutherland, Zena (May 1982). "Chapters: My Growth as a Writer" (PDF). Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. 35 (9): 167. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
- ^ a b Tiedt, Iris McClellan (March 1993). "Autobiographical Insights: Authors' Books for Young People". English Journal. 82 (3): 84–85. JSTOR 820240.
- ^ Koelling, Holly, ed. (2007). Best Book for Young Adults (3rd ed.). American Library Association. p. 276. ISBN 978-0-8389-3569-9.
- ^ Lawhead, Terry (March 1982). "Chapters: My Growth as a Writer". School Library Journal. 28 (7): 156 – via EBSCOhost.