Twenty-two authors of children’s books share a personal story about an event in their life. One that changed who they would become and gave them the strength to take on what they loved. Most happened when they were a child or young adult.
Middle grade readers will recognize many of the names as they often seem like old friends. Here’s a sampling of my favorites:
Gordon Korman who wrote his first published novel in 7th grade. It all came about because of a teacher.
Hena Kahn took a roundabout way to become passionate about her heritage.
Stuart Gibbs relates the touching story dealing with adversity when the person he was closest to passes away.
James Ponti shares his growing up story. It’s about about family and how he became James Ponti.
Janae Marks talks about how goals often face road blocks. But with determination she turned it into an opportunity and finally sold her first middle grade novel—From the Desk of Zoe Washington.
The stories are perfect for both middle graders and adults. Each will read it differently based on their own experiences, but will come away with a hopeful feeling. Even though I began with familiar authors, I was also captivated by the other stories.
HOPE WINS is the perfect title. When one has hope they also pursue growth in their lives. These personal stories would also be a god fit as a read-aloud in literature classes. The collection is a great addition to the library shelf.
ABOUT THE EDITOR
Rose Brock, Ph.D, is a veteran educator and specialist in literature for young people who spent twenty years as a public school educator working as a language arts teacher and a school librarian. She now works as an associate professor in the Department of Library Science and Technology at Sam Houston State University. (For more visit her website)
I received a copy of the book for this review.
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Always in the Middle... 
sounds like a very special book. Thanks for sharing it.
This sounds very inspiring. I’ll bet a lot of classroom teachers will be using it. Thanks for the review.
What a fascinating book. It took a life-changing injury to nudge me to reinvent myself as a writer inthe kidlit field. I studied and wrote and then settled on reviewing books that were healing.