Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Sara Zarr - Star of JCIRA's May Meeting!

On Monday, May 10th, Sara Zarr - author extraordinaire - sat down with 13 secondary educators to chat about her writing life. What a pleasant experience that was for all of us - those who dream about authoring works and those who enjoy reading them.

Let me tell you a bit about Sara's accomplished WONDERFULNESS, and then I'll link you to a summary of what she shared with us! Sound good?
  • She has published 3 YA novels: Story of a Girl; Sweethearts; and Once Was Lost
  • Honors and Awards:
    • Story of a Girl
      • 2007 National Book Award Finalist
      • American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults
      • ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers
      • International Reading Association Honor Book
      • International Reading Association Choices Book
      • New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age
      • Capitol Choices Pick
      • TX Tayshas Pick
      • Utah Book Award Finalist
    • Sweethearts
      • 2008 Cybil Awards Finalist
      • Oprah Book Club Kids Reading List
      • American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults
      • New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age
      • Utah Book Award Finalist
      • TX Tayshas Pick
      • 2010 International Reading Association Choices pick
    • Once Was Lost - Just published in October, this book was inspired by events surrounding Elizabeth Smart's kidnapping. It has already been recognized with the following honors:
      • An ALA Best Book for Young Adults
      • A Kirkus Best Book of 2009
      • Fall 2009 Reading the West pick – Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association
  • Sara has also contributed to the following collections:
    • Does This Book Make Me Look Fat - A collection of stories and essays by YA authors that "sound off on body image., self-esteem, diets, eating disorders, boys, fashion magazines, and why trying on jeans is a bad experience for everyone."
    • Geektastic - "Short stories from some of the best selling and most promising geeks in young adult literature; covers all things geeky, from Klingons and Jedi Knights to fan fiction, theater geeks, and cosplayer."
    • Jesus Girls - "Together this collection of essays provides a vivid and diverse portrait of life in the evangelical church, warts and all."
  • Sara is featured on a READWRITETHINK.org podcast.
    • Click HERE to learn more about this amazing young author via the podcast.
    • Go HERE to read more on her website.

3 comments:

Karey said...

Thanks so much for giving more information about Sara Zarr and the impact her books are having. I'm going to go out of my way to meet her at the Provo Library Children's Book Festival and get some of her books for my daughter.

link2literacy said...

Thanks for dropping by, Karey. Sara is a wonderful writer and person. I haven't read her latest novel yet, but I've ordered it. My heart is always touched by her insights into the teen soul - even though I am far away from that season of my life!

I dropped by your BlogWorld, too, and look forward to spending more time there. Renae

Leslie said...

Renae

I missed the first JCIRA fall meeting -- those grad school classes and all. Is this a separate organization from IRA, or is it linked? If I'm a member of IRA, am I thereby a member of JCIRA or vise-verse? Is there a calendar of upcoming events I can see?

THANKS! You're wonderful.

Leslie