Writers, Poets & Dramatists

Who better to raise teens' awareness of mental illness and health than the YA authors they admire? --Booklist (starred review) [A] much-needed, enlightening book. --School Library Journal (starred review) Your favorite YA authors including Ellen Hopkins, Maureen Johnson, and more... recount their own experiences with mental health in this raw, real, and powerful collection of essays that explores everything from ADD to PTSD. Have you ever felt like you just couldn't get out of bed? Not the occasional morning, but every day? Do you find yourself listening to a voice in your head that says you're not good enough, not good looking enough, not thin enough, or not smart enough ? Have you ever found yourself unable to do homework or pay attention in class unless everything is just so on your desk? Everyone has had days like that, but what if you have them every day? You're not alone. Millions of people are going through similar things. However issues around mental health still tend to be treated as something shrouded in shame or discussed in whispers. It's easier to have a broken bone--something tangible that can be fixed --than to have a mental illness, and easier to have a discussion about sex than it is to have one about mental health. Life Inside My Mind is an anthology of true-life events from writers of this generation, for this generation. These essays tackle everything from neurodiversity to addiction to OCD to PTSD and much more. The goals of this book range from providing a home to those who are feeling alone, awareness to those who are witnessing a friend or family member struggle, and to open the floodgates to conversation.
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Learn about the inspiring life of Helen Keller in this early reader biography. It also covers some of the lesser-known fun facts-did you know that Helen Keller was a long-time dog lover? This biography reader includes a timeline, historical photographs, and information about Brai...lle.
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A heart-wrenching and powerful YA story about friendship and finding yourself from award-winning, bestselling author, Gayle Forman

What makes a children's book character memorable? Is it their personality, the story they tell or the way they're depicted by the illustrator? Is it that they make us laugh or cry? Or is it that we can identify with them? Often, even as adults, we can remember what our favourite ...children's book characters said or conjure an image of them in our mind's eye. From Snugglepot and Cuddlepie to the green sheep and Pig the Pug, Australian children's book characters have always delighted the young and young-at-heart. Get together with old friends and meet new ones in this lighthearted retrospective of much-loved characters from over a century of Australian illustrated books for children. Many will be delighted to reencounter Albert, the cranky cut-and-come-again magic pudding, who has fought the puddin' thieves in multiple editions, as well as across the stage in musical theatre, puppet shows, animated films and opera. Others will be thrilled to see lovable grass tree Grug, who was once described by The New York Times as the `Elmo of Down Under', and who has bustled through over 30 picture books since he first appeared in Grug in 1979. \ With such classic characters included alongside newer stars, parents and grandparents can not only share their favourites, but can also get to know the newer characters who enchant their children and grandchildren. Today's little ones love to go searching for Mem Fox and Judy Horacek's green sheep, who won the CBCA Early Childhood Book of the Year Award in 2005. They grump along with Nick Bland's bear, who has been cranky, itchy, hungry and noisy, to name but a few of his dispositions. And they giggle at greedy Pig, the pug, who is awfully mean to his flatmate Trevor, but who always gets his comeuppance in the end. All these characters and more showcase the breadth of Australian children's books over the last century and give readers of all ages the chance to get to know their favourite characters a little better.
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Find out how you can create interesting stories based on your real-life experiences.