Ellen Wittlinger ~ True Teen Advocate
Sometimes you stumble across a book or an author that changes your life. Suddenly, you are thrust into a world that challenges your every notion of what life is or it makes you realize that you are not alone in this world. After I read Hard Love and Parrotfish and attended the Young Adult Author Luncheon with Ellen Wittlinger, I knew that Ellen was one of those authors.
This journey of self-discovery should happen over a lifetime but too often we limit our struggles and true defining moments to when we are teenager. We forget to keep exploring what Ellen calls the basements of ourselves. We forget what it is like to struggle with who we are. As I listened to her coax us back to that place, I found myself wondering just how many of us stop looking inside and downstairs for fear of the monsters that are hard to face head on because they are not imaginary.
I cannot miss the opportunity to praise Ellen Wittlinger for refusing to shy away from the tough and controversial topics of GLBTQ (Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, questioning) for teens. She talked of schools that would request she not talk about her “gay” novels or places that would uninvite her when they realized she would answer any and every question a student might ask her.
In her newest book, Parrotfish, Ellen writes about transexuality, one of only two books for teens on the subject. This is sobering considering the statistic she shared that as high as 50% of transgender youth are suicidal. When will we graduate to a society were humanity is the most important thing anyone can offer and love is simply love? Yeah for the librarians and authors like Ellen who are out there working with the youth and making a difference in their lives.
~Jennifer, Springfield-Greene County Library District
Tags: mla2007, molib2007, young adult
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