Handling is (also) for teen writers and those who teach them (thank you, Bookslut), and a librarian speaks

My friend Colleen Mondor is at it again—reading ardently, recommending generously. Her monthly Bookslut columns are a source of endless interest, and her December column is no different—featuring, among others, Jason Fforde, Gavin Extence, and Jenny Davidson.

Colleen also very kindly includes Handling the Truth in her column, and I love finding that book here, among the YA reads, for I have always believed that this book about the making of memoir was relevant for teens and those who teach them. I found that hunch confirmed while at NCTE in Boston, where I was thrilled to meet so many who teach memoir to younger writers and to hear their stories about the seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth graders who have plunged into the personal.

Says Colleen:

For the teen writer, Handling the Truth offers some valuable insight into many facets of the writing life, especially finding the truth in a story. Packaging Handling the Truth along with a couple of the dozens of memoirs Kephart lists in her detailed bibliography would be a great way to tell the teen in your life that you take his or her writing dreams seriously.

I share as well these words from a kind librarian named Rick, forwarded to me by none other than Serena Agusto-Cox