Author Talk-Lucy Christopher

Last night I went to the new UCONN Co-op Book Store at Storrs Center and saw Lucy Christopher speak. Her focus was The Killing Woods, her newest novel. I reviewed it earlier this month here.

              

I did something awful in that review and compared it Stolen, her first Printz Honor winning novel because it was closer to that than her middle grade novel Flyaway. Stolen may still be my favorite of her novels, but I learned something that made me want to re-read all of them and gave me a new appreciation for her craft.

Rather than start with a character or a plot, Lucy Christopher begins all her novels and stories with a place. In Stolen that was the Australian Desert, for Flyaway a nature sanctuary and for The Killing Woods it was the woods. This made so much sense to me in retrospect. It really seemed that the Darkwood was a character of its own.

Additionally, she was a great speaker--friendly, engaging and passionate. During the signing, she had accouterments to add to each book, themed from the setting of each story. I also appreciated her anecdotes from asking teens what sort of stories they want to read. She said rather than action or paranormal romance the primary response was dark, honest and emotional. From my work with teens I agree and all of Christopher's works fit into this category. It must be why they are all so good.