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Laurie Halse Anderson

Children's Author

Author Laurie Halse Anderson writes about the past and present, real people and imagined characters. She plays with form and style to present individuals from the inside, and looks at real history and women who played a role in it. Her middle-grade historical fiction book, Chains, was a National Book Award finalist. She also has a particular love for animals, expressed in her ongoing series, Vet Volunteers

Biography

Laurie Halse (rhymes with “waltz”) Anderson got to know and appreciate cold weather growing up in upstate New York. She attended elementary school in Syracuse, where she was terrified that she’d never be able to learn how to read. With help from her teachers, Laurie did crack the code and then became one those students who hide library books inside textbooks during class.

As a teenager, Laurie escaped the traditional classroom and was a foreign exchange student in Denmark, where she worked on pig farm. She developed a fondness for bacon and working with animals. While attending Onondaga Community College, she worked at a dairy farm. In 1981, she transferred to Georgetown University and graduated three years later with a degree in Languages and Linguistics.

Thinking it was time to get a real job, Laurie realized that people would actually pay her to write. She became a freelance writer and journalist, though now that she had two children of her own, she was even more interested in writing her own stories. Her intense desire to not have to do the same thing day in and out turned into numerous picture books, middle-grade titles and award-winning teen and historical fiction, including National Book Award finalist, Speak, and National Book Award finalist, Chains. See more of her middle-grade and YA titles on our sister site, AdLit.org (opens in a new window).

Learn more about Laurie at the official Laurie Halse Anderson website (opens in a new window) — including resources for educators (opens in a new window).

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