Anderson, Laurie Halse, << haltz, >> (1961-…), is an American author of books for children and young adults. Critics have especially noted Anderson’s skill at capturing the voices and attitudes of teenagers as they face personal problems.
One of Anderson’s most highly praised novels is Speak (1999). The book tells the story of a high school freshman who was raped by a senior at a party. Catalyst (2002) portrays the friendship between two teenage girls. The book is set in the same high school as Speak. In Prom (2005), Anderson tells about two high school girls who try to save their school prom after a teacher steals the money intended to pay for the event. Twisted (2007) describes the personal problems of a high school boy. The novel marked the first time Anderson used a male as a central character. Wintergirls (2010) is a novel about an 18-year-old girl fighting an eating disorder. The Impossible Knife of Memory (2014) tells about a high school senior struggling to care for her father, a troubled veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Anderson wrote a series for younger readers called “Vet Volunteers” (originally “Wild at Heart”). The series describes the adventures of Maggie, a girl who volunteers to work in a veterinary clinic operated by her grandmother. The series began with Fight for Life (2000).
Anderson also wrote the “Seeds of America” trilogy for young readers. The first book in the trilogy, Chains (2008), centers on Isabel, a young black slave in New York City. The girl serves as a spy for colonial rebels at the beginning of the American Revolution (1775-1783). The next book in the trilogy, Forge (2010), is narrated by Curzon, a young slave who shares the hardships of the colonial troops during the winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. In the third book, Ashes (2016), the two teenage fugitives search for Isabel’s younger sister, who was stolen away from her in Charleston, South Carolina, many years before. In the historical novel Fever 1793 (2000), a 14-year-old girl tells about the yellow fever epidemic that swept through Philadelphia in 1793.
Laurie Beth Halse was born in Potsdam, New York, on Oct. 23, 1961. She married Gregory H. Anderson, a business executive, in 1983. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., in 1984. Anderson wrote an autobiography in free verse, Shout (2018).
