Category Archives: Authors We Love

Authors We Love: Cormac McCarthy

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Cormac Country | Vanity Fair

Cormac McCarthy was born in 1933 in Rhode Island, of Irish descent. He moved with his family to Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1937. He was the third of six children, with three sisters and two brothers. In Knoxville, he attended Catholic school. His father was a well-known local lawyer for the next thirty years. Originally named Charles Joseph McCarthy Junior, Cormac is an Irish word meaning Charles’s son (mac). In 1951-1952, McCarthy attended University of Tennessee, majoring in liberal arts. In 1953, he joined the United States Air Force and served for four years, during which time he hosted a radio show in Alaska. In 1957, he returned to the University of Tennessee. In college, he published two short stories in the student newspaper and won the Gram-Merrill Award in 1959 and 1960.

In 1961, he married college mate Lee Holleman and had their son, Cullen. McCarthy left school again without a degree and the family moved to Chicago, where he wrote his first novel. He later ended his marriage to Lee Holleman and returned to Tennessee. McCarthy’s first novel, “The Orchard Keeper,” was published by Random House in 1965. He submitted the manuscript to Random House, supposedly because it was the only publisher he had heard of. Albert Erskine of Random House discovered the value of the manuscript. Asken was editor of William Faulkner until his death in 1962. For the next two decades, Askin also edited for McCarthy. In the summer of 1965, with a scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, McCarthy sailed to Ireland, hoping to visit the island.

While on board, he met Anne DeLisle, who was a singer on the ship. They married in England in 1966. McCarthy received a Rockefeller Foundation grant to continue his tour of southern Europe until he landed in Ibiza. There he wrote his second novel, “Outer Dark”. He returned to the United States with his wife and published the novel in 1968. In 1969, McCarthy and his wife moved to Louisville, Tennessee and bought a barn. McCarthy built the house and even worked on it himself. Here he wrote another novel based on real events, “Child of God,” published in 1973. Like “Outer Darkness,” “Child of God” is set in southern Appalachian state. In 1966, McCarthy and Anne DeLisle separated and moved to El Paso, Texas.

In 1979, “Suttree” was finally published. The novel has been written on and off for twenty years. Using the MacArthur fellowship of 1981 to fund his living, he wrote another novel, “Blood Meridian”, which was published in 1985. He lives in isolation, rarely giving interviews, shunning public events or talking about his work. In a rare interview with the New York Times, Mr. McCarthy revealed his distaste for writers whose work, including that of Henry James and Marcel Proust, dealt with issues of life and death. His novels are devoted to describing the life experiences and feelings of the middle and lower class people in the United States and Mexico and have been well received by readers in North America and praised by critics. Especially, his western novels represented by Border Trilogy and “Blood Meridian” established his master status in the modern American literary world.

Authors We Love: James Joyce

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James Joyce | Biography, Books, & Facts | Britannica

James Joyce (1882-1941) was an Irish writer and poet. He was one of the greatest writers of the 20th century and one of the founders of postmodern literature. His works and stream of consciousness had a great influence on the world of literature. He has lived in Paris since 1920. He moved from place to place throughout Europe, teaching English and writing for a living. In his later years, he suffered from eye diseases and nearly lost his sight. His works are complex in structure, peculiar in language and highly original. His main work is a collection of short stories called Dubliners (1914), which describes the daily life of lower citizens and shows the destruction of people’s ideals and hopes by social environment.The autobiographical novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) describes the psychology of the characters and the world around them with a large number of inner monologues. The masterpiece novel Ulysses (1922) shows the loneliness and pessimism of people in modern society. In his later work, the full-length novel Finnegan’s Wake (1939) borrows the dream to express the ultimate thinking on human existence and destiny, and the language is extremely difficult to understand.

James Joyce was born in Dublin, Ireland, on February 2, 1882. His father had a strong faith in nationalism and his mother was a devout Catholic. When Joyce was born, the beautiful island nation of Ireland was a British colony, plagued by war and poverty. He had a large family of younger brothers and sisters, but his father favored the talented eldest son and gave him money to buy foreign books, whether the family had enough to eat or not. He grew up at the Catholic church school. Joyce is the youngest of the students. His academic performance is outstanding, and he initially shows extraordinary literary talent. Since the 19th century, the Irish Renaissance movement formed in Dublin with Yeats, Lady Gregory and Singer as the center, and he received the influence directly. Through friends, he was also influenced by the Irish National Independence movement. But what influenced him even more strongly was the emergence of liberal ideas in European literature at the end of the 19th century. Before he graduated from high school, he became suspicious of religion.

In 1898 Joyce entered University College Dublin, where he specialised in philosophy and language. On January 20, 1900, delivered a speech at the Literary and Historical Society of the College on the topic of Drama and Life. On April 1, the Half Moon Review, an English literary magazine, published his review of Ibsen’s work When We Dead Awaken(1899). This article was praised by Ibsen, who was over seventy years old, which encouraged Joyce and strengthened his determination to embark on a literary career. In October 1901, he wrote a self-published essay, The Noisy Times, criticizing the narrow nationalism of Irish theatrical houses.Joyce graduated from University College Dublin in June 1902 with a Bachelor’s degree in Modern Languages. On October 2, he enrolled in classes at St. Cecilia’s Medical School. However, he only studied here until the beginning of November when he gave up his studies due to financial difficulties.

Joyce’s literary career began in 1904 with a collection of short stories called Dubliners. In a letter to Richards, the publisher, he made it clear that the principle of its creation was to write its own chapter in the moral and spiritual history of our country. This, in fact, became his lifelong literary pursuit. In Joyce’s eyes, Dublin was the centre of paralysis in Ireland, a hopeless country under the double oppression and stranglehold of the British Empire and the Catholic Church. In this city at all times there are numbness, depression, reduced act of living drama. Araby, a short story from Dubliners, reveals the charm of the author’s writing and the beauty of his stream-of-consciousness style novels. At the end of July 1906 he went to Rome as a bank correspondent. Since April 1906, the problem of rewriting a collection of short stories called Dubliners has gone back and forth with Richards. A refusal of publication was received on 30 September.

James Joyce began his novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man in Dublin in 1908 and finished it in Trieste, Italy, in 1914, which lasted for 10 years. The novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man has a strong autobiographical color. Through the story of Stephen Dedalus, Joyce actually raises the issue of the relationship between artists and society and life. Stephen Dedalus himself was exactly what he was trying to escape from the world of Dublin, which had taken its revenge on rebellious young artists. Ulysses, a novel written in 1922, borrowed the framework of the Ancient Greek epic, The Odyssey and compared it to character Bloom wandering in Dublin for 18 hours a day as opposed to Odysseus’s 10 years of wandering on the sea, giving Ulysses a generality of modern epic. Through the life of these three people in one day, the novel shows their whole history, their whole spiritual life and their inner world incisively and vividly.

Finnegan’s Wake, a novel published in 1939, borrows the idea of the world circulating in four different social forms from the Italian ideologist Vico in the 18th century, and develops a complex content within this framework. The book is a metaphor for the Bible, Shakespeare, ancient religion, modern history, Dublin local chronicles and so on. It borrows a lot of foreign words and even makes up its own words. Through exaggerated association, it describes the history of Ireland and even the whole mankind and the movement of the whole universe. In addition to the above three works, Joyce also wrote the poetry anthology Chamber Music and the play Exiles.

Authors We Love: Beverly Cleary

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Beverly Cleary is one of my favorite authors.  She has written many short fiction books, most of which are set in an American town during the middle of the twentieth century.  Her works include Henry Huggins, Beezus and Ramona, and Otis Spofford.  Her books are among my favorites because they are easy to read and they contain many amusing stories.

I really enjoy reading Henry Huggins.  This book is about a boy named Henry who finds a dog on the street.  He names the dog Ribsy because it is skinny.  Henry tries to take Ribsy home on a bus with strict rules against dogs.  Henry does funny things to hide Ribsy on the bus.  I enjoy reading this book very much because of the way Henry becomes friends with Ribsy, even though the dog can be difficult to control.

Beezus and Ramona is another funny book.  Beezus (nickname for Beatrice) lives with her four-year-old little sister, Ramona.  Ramona gets into all kinds of mischief.  One time, she wrote her name all over a library book.  Another time, she put a doll in the oven.  Many other funny things happen in this book.  This may be my favorite book written by Beverly Cleary because of Ramona’s many misunderstandings and escapades.  Anyone with a mischievous little sibling can relate to this book.

I also find Otis Spofford to be very funny.  Otis gets into lots of trouble.  One time he dressed up as a bull and attacked a matador during a mock bullfight at school.  Some of his classmates were not amused by his behavior, but the situation is humorous.  I enjoy Otis’ lively personality.  He is always trying to stir up excitement.

Even though they are written for young readers, I still thoroughly enjoy Beverly Cleary’s books.  I have read some of her books several times.  I highly recommend them, not only for young readers, but also for anyone who feels like reading a short and charming book.

-Oliver H. 

The works of Beverly Cleary are available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library. They are also available to download from Overdrive. 

Authors We Love: S.E. Hinton

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S.E. Hinton is an American author we are often introduced to in school. Her classic novel The Outsiders remains one of the most popular books in youth literature to this day. The Outsiders tells the stories of the lower class (Greasers) and the upper class (Socs) from the perspective of narrator Ponyboy Curtis. The novel explores hostile interaction between social classes and is often seen as Hinton’s greatest work due to its stark realism and relatability. 

Rumble Fish is another one of Hinton’s greatest works. Rumble Fish follows the life of teenager Rusty James who struggles to live a life in his brother’s shadow. His brother, the Motorcycle Boy, had taken a trip to California and left behind a notorious, criminal reputation that Rusty James tries his best to embody. Unbeknownst to Rusty James, Motorcycle Boy never truly made it to California and was battling his own mental strife. In the end, Motorcycle Boy’s life is ended by his final, fatal encounter with the police as he tries to steal “rumble fish” from a local pet store. Possessed by grief, Rusty James decides to make his own trip to California and reaches the ocean in honor of his lost brother. Through this intense story, Rumble Fish teaches readers that the world becomes less dark if we know where to find the light. 

One of Hinton’s lesser known works is That Was Then, This is Now. That Was Then, This is Now contains many of the same elements as The Outsiders and Rumble Fish, but takes place a few years later. Now, social classes are less defined, and violence between Greasers and Socs is less frequent. The current omnipotent issue is no longer gang fights; it’s drug abuse. Main characters Mark and Bryon are close friends, and consider themselves brothers. When Bryon’s mother is hospitalized and needs surgery, the two scramble to find sources of necessary income. Bryon finds a job at a supermarket, while Mark supplies money without an obvious source. During this time of financial stress, their friend M&M goes missing until Bryon finds him under the influence of narcotics. M&M is hospitalized, and Bryon finds out that Mark has been selling drugs in order to help pay for his mother’s surgery. Bryon must choose justice for M&M or Mark’s life. In the end, their brotherly bond is severed when Bryon reports Mark and Mark is sent to prison. This story shows readers that the world is not divided into black and white, or good and evil. The most difficult decisions are often made in the area of divergence between the two extremes.

S.E. Hinton’s is one of the greatest authors of the 1900’s, and her books have remained popular, years after publication. Her didactic novels continue to teach modern youth crucial life lessons that will never die with age.

-Katie A. 

The works of S. E. Hinton are available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library.

Authors We Love: Jane Austen

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Jane Austen | Biography & Novels | Britannica

Jane Austen (16 December 1775 — 18 July 1817) was an English novelist and novelist. Her novels include Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility. Jane Austen wrote her first novel, entitled First Impressions, when she was 21. She contacted a publisher to publish it, to no avail. In the same year, she began writing Elinor and Marianne again, and later Northanger Abbey, which was completed in 1799. More than a decade later, First Impressions was rewritten as Pride and Prejudice, and Elinor and Marianne”was rewritten as Sense and Sensibility, and each was published. As for Northanger Abbey, the author did not publish a book before her death. These three are Austen’s early works, written in her hometown of Steventon. Her later works were also three: Mansfield Park, Emma and Persuasion, all written after the author moved to Chawton. The first two were published successively. Only Persuasion, which was completed in 1816, had to be rewritten because the author was not satisfied with the original ending, and was not published. After her death, her brother, Henry Austen, published Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, and for the first time assumed the real name of Jane Austen.

Jane Austen was born in December 1775 in Steventon, Hampshire, among eight children. Her father was a rector there for more than forty years. He was a learned priest, and his wife came from a relatively wealthy family and had a certain amount of culture. Therefore, although Austen did not go to a formal school, the good conditions of her family and the reading environment provided her with the conditions for self-study and cultivated her interest in writing. She began to write at the age of thirteen or fourteen, showing her aptitude for language. When his father retired in 1800, the family moved to Bath, a place Austen did not like and was said to have suffered from depression. Here Austen rejects the proposal of a young man who will inherit a fortune because she does not love him. After living there for about four years, when her father died, Austen, her mother and sister moved again to Southampton in 1809. At the beginning of 1816, she became seriously ill and became increasingly weak. In May 1817, she was sent to Winchester for medical treatment, but the treatment failed and she died in her sister’s arms on July 18 of the same year. She never married and was buried in Winchester Cathedral.

Authors We Love: Charles Dickens

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Charles Dickens - Wikipedia

Dickens lived and wrote in the early years of the Victorian Era in the mid-19th century. Dickens’ activities and creations throughout his life kept pace with the trend of the times. He exposed the hypocrisy, greed, baseness and cruelty of the upper class and the bourgeoisie in a realistic way, and showed the miserable situation of the lower class, especially women, children and the elderly, with great indignation and deep sympathy. And with a serious and cautious attitude he describes the awakening of the struggle of the toiling masses. At the same time, he also eulogizes the truth, goodness and beauty in human nature with idealism and romanticism, and looks forward to a more reasonable society and a better life. Dickens embodies the core spirit of the English, a kind of joy and satisfaction from the heart. But there is another British spirit in Dickens, a kind of self-conscious reflection and critical spirit. He spoke for the disadvantaged groups, pursued social justice, explored the core values that can make human beings live in harmony, and expressed the aspirations and dreams of many people with 15 novels and a large number of prose works.

In Dickens’s early works, the reader sometimes finds his affirmation of commercial value. But the later Dickens took a more derogatory attitude towards business. His work also tends to show in a violent way the subversive power of money in an increasingly industrialized society. In the real society, there is a philosophy that ignores human nature everywhere. All spiritual life, including religious life, has hopelessly become a vassal of money and a quantifiable index. With the development of Victorian society, the ethical and moral concepts of the aristocracy were inevitably impacted by the culture of the middle class. The ethics and morals of the middle class have gradually and widely influenced people’s way of life. The development of ethics reflected in the culture is the development of Victorian culture, thus breaking the original monistic cultural values.

Thus, it can be said that Dickens is not only criticizing the inequality of social classes in his novels, but also commenting on the culture of that society, especially its moral concepts. From this we can see his concern and thinking about the future of that society, and also reflect his deep thinking about the human life itself. Dickens’ early novels are grand, popular and fluent, humorous and pungent, and full of sentiment, in which the criticism of the society is generally confined to local institutions and fields. For example, “Oliver Twist”, “Nicholas Nickleby”, “The Old Curiosity Shop“, “The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit”, “Christmas Carol” and so on. After “Dombey and Son”, Dickens’s writing became more mature. “David Copperfield” further explores the struggle of life and is autobiographical. It is a long picture that reflects the middle and lower classes of Britain in the mid-19th century.

“Bleak House”, “Hard Times” and “Little Dorrit” are three politically conscious masterpieces. Dickens’ later works clearly reflect the deepening of the creation of the theme, technical maturity and various aspects of exploration. “Great Expectations” can be seen as a negative of “David Copperfield,” but it is more realistic and apocalyptic in its approach to life, and the author’s early optimism is markedly diminished. The hero Pip is also an orphan. However, he can not withstand the temptation of the environment and loses his original simple nature. After experiencing harsh hardships, he realizes repentance and starts to live again, and the whole novel is more concise in structure. “Our Mutual Friend” is another critical novel that goes deep into the society. The human nature exploration and life philosophy contained in it are also more profound. The symbolism and detective novel techniques used in the novel add more to its artistic charm.

Dickens’ final novel, “The Mystery of Edwin Drood”, is only 23 chapters long, but it is also exquisitely written, scrupulously conceived, and seductive with suspense and mystery. He describes a large number of people in the middle and lower classes, which is unprecedented in literature. With his high artistic generalization, vivid detail description, witty humor and meticulous analysis, he created many unforgettable images that truly reflected the social face of Britain in the early 19th century, which had great appeal and cognitive value, and formed his unique style. He reflects the breadth and variety of life, the depth and power of it. Instead of preaching or conceptualizing his tendencies, he tends to inspire his readers’ indignation, hatred, sympathy and love with vivid artistic images. Most of his characters have distinct personalities. He is good at using artistic exaggeration to highlight some features of the characters and reveal their inner life and mental outlook with their customary movements, gestures and words.

Dickens’ works have a strong romantic atmosphere, and the things he describes seem to have some kind of spirituality that can match the feelings and temperament of the characters, which enhances the appeal of the works.

Authors We Love: Saul Bellow

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Saul Bellow was born on June 10, 1915, and passed away on April 5, 2005. He was born in Lachine, a small village located in Quebec, Canada and immigrated with his parents to Chicago, United States with he was eight. Due to this reason, Hyde Park, Chicago was the backdrop of a lot of his famous works because he was the most familiar with it.

Both of his parents were from Russia and were very strict Jews. They wished Saul Bellow could be a rabbi or a violinist playing in church when he grows up. However, he couldn’t overcome his passion for writing and therefore did not relinquish to these two occupations even when his mother passed away. He went to Chicago University and later switched to Northwestern University because he felt the former disliked Jews and therefore mistreated them. Bellow did his graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin.

As a Novel Prize Literature winner, Pulitzer Prize fiction winner, and the only writer to win the National Medal of arts three times, Bellow in his entire life has composed a lot of works. These include Dangling Man, The Victim, The Adventures of Augie March, Seize the Day, Henderson the Rain King, Herzog, Mr.Sammler’s Planet, Humboldt’s Gift, The Dean’s December, More Die of Heartbreak, A Theft, The Bellarose Collection, The Actual, and Ravelstein. He also wrote a lot of plays and some nonfiction as well.

One thing which marks his unique style is his philosophical views embedded amongst the paragraphs and in characters’ dialogues. It provides on his insight of life, death, marriage and other themes which he values as important. Although some critics argue that this style of approach can be very elusive and a form of digression, I thought if sociology and anthropology are vital in Bellow’s life, he should put it down to let people who he really is.

-Coreen C. 

The works of Saul Bellow are available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library.

Authors We Love: John Green

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OK, nerdfighters, it’s time to talk about John Green. As one of the most celebrated authors in the genre, John Green has published five young adult novels, of which four have been nominated for an award and three have won in their respective category.

So what is it about his writing that makes us fall in love with the characters, the situations, the settings? While I can’t say for sure, there always seems to be a haunting realness to the stories he tells, drawing us in and allowing us to feel as if the characters are people in our own lives and that we are a part of their story.

The voice that Green takes on as he writes makes for startling accuracy, capturing the teenage spirit and creating lifelike characters to play out the situations presented in his stories. Something about the characteristics of each person and the adventures they embark on makes them seem more connected with us, which is truly one of Green’s greatest gifts.

In Green’s first novel, Looking for Alaska, the tight-knit cast of characters all vie for an answer about life, existence, and the spirit of searching for one’s self, ultimately a concept that burrows itself into the process of growing up. The universal ideas that Green writes about are things that are very closely linked to the human spirit as a whole, connecting the readers and the author in one group together.

And, of course, the nerdiness. Green brings his own interests into the books that he writes — things like Star Wars, music, and knowing the last words of famous figures throughout history. Though they seem trivial, small things like this give more depth to the stories and make the characters so much more realistic and believable.

If ever in pursuit for something thoughtful and charming to read, turn to YA’s John Green. The characters, the emotions, the heartwarming, and the sad. It’s all there — all you have to do is open to the first page, and consequently, open up your heart to a new world.

—Keira D.

The works of John Green are available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library. They can also be downloaded for free from Overdrive. 

Authors We Love: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Born in 1859, Arthur Conan Doyle started life as a doctor, earning his Doctor of Medicine degree in Scotland, and practicing in the medical field for nearly twenty years. However, Conan Doyle is not known for his work in medicine, but rather for his incredible work in the literary field, which gave enduring gems to nearly every genre of literature.

Over the course of his lifetime, Conan Doyle created many different and complex characters for his stories. For example, his 1912 novel The Lost World stars the boisterous and occasionally insolent scientific genius Professor Challenger, whose radical opinions about strange locations and events are often proven true, much to the exasperation and secret admiration of his friends and his rivals. The title of this book may sound familiar, and it should – Conan Doyle’s work was the inspiration behind the movie Jurassic Park: The Lost World.

Conan Doyle also dabbled in other genres, varying from quasi-memoirs to historical adventure to horror. The Stark-Munro Letters, which were written and published in 1895, are a thinly-disguised account of Conan Doyle’s early years in the medical field. Seventeen short stories feature Brigadier Etienne Gerard, a French soldier who tells the tales of his adventures during the war, which are engaging to any and all readers, even without an in-depth knowledge of the Napoleonic Wars. Additionally, in the short stories The Case of the Lady Sannox, The Brown Hand, and The Brazilian Cat, Conan Doyle harnesses his eye for the macabre to deliver quick but lasting packages of terror and mystery that the reader cannot easily forget.

Statue of Sherlock Holmes, located in London, England

Statue of Sherlock Holmes, located in London, England

 

Of all the products of Conan Doyle’s pen, perhaps the most well-known is the reclusive and eccentric yet brilliant consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes, along with his less-intelligent comrade and biographer, Dr. John Watson. The first adventure starring the dynamic duo, A Study in Scarlet, was published in 1886 in Beeton’s Christmas Annual. It was an instant national success, and it was followed by another novel, The Sign of Four, and twenty-four short stories.

 

 

Statue of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, located in Crowborough, England

Statue of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, located in Crowborough, England

Eventually, Conan Doyle became tired of writing about Sherlock Holmes, who he believed was “standing in the way” of his greater works, so he killed off the great detective in 1893’s “The Final Problem.” However, public pressure convinced Conan Doyle to continue writing about Holmes, with a new novel The Hound of the Baskervilles and the resurrection of Holmes in “The Adventure of the Empty House.” In the end, Holmes and Watson are featured in sixty stories – all of which are beloved by both the avid crime critic and the casual reader. 

Sadly, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle died of a heart attack in 1930. Interestingly, his last words were spoken to his wife: “You are wonderful!” In the end, over the course of seventy-one years, Conan Doyle’s work has imprinted itself on the hearts and minds of all who read it, and “the father of the modern detective” will not be forgotten even in the farthest of futures.

-Mahak M.

Authors We Love: S.E. Hinton

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Ideally, in every form, artists try to mold creations from what they see in their everyday lives and the world they have inherited. S.E. Hinton, boldly nicknamed called “the voice of the youth,” has demonstrated this artistry in each piece she has written, displaying the realities and complexities presented throughout her life growing up in the race and class divided 60s and 70s.

Two of her most famous books, The Outsiders and That Was Then, This Is Now, are written from the perspectives of young boys experiencing the ups and downs of adolescence alongside their close friends and siblings. Though written over 50 years ago, the themes presented in her novels still ring true to this day, to children, teenagers, and adults alike. The slang used in her novels reflect the time periods in which they take place, making for nostalgia and remembrance of decades past.

Hinton’s writing style is simple yet sincere and is relatable to the wide variety of people contained in her audience. Her ability to describe her personal experiences through different lenses ultimately allows her to assimilate herself with the audience, strengthening the relationship between the reader and the author, bringing us closer together.

The events depicted in Hinton’s novels are strikingly mundane when presented alone, but with the accompaniment of her likable and authentic characters, they hit close to home. The ever-present themes of loyalty and friendship are heartfelt, and only make the stories all the more pleasant to read.

In addition to her publications, multiple films have been made as counterparts to her novels, including The Outsiders and Rumble Fish. Similar to her writing, the films have an uncanny ability to universalize emotions and situations to strike the hearts and minds of the audiences.

Whether you are young or old, male or female — S.E. Hinton has something to offer. With her profound and humble stories, every aspect of the story comes full circle. Savvy?

—Keira D.

The works of S. E. Hinton are available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library. They can also be downloaded for free from Overdrive.