Author Appreciation Week: Post 5

For those of you long time followers of my blog, today's author should come as no surprise. She isn't YA/MG but I firmly believe there are several books of hers that should be read by teens. They hit hard on some rough issues, and while it is written at an adult level, I think plenty of teens have the mental capacity to completely understand them. If anything, it might even make it more realistic and give a longer lasting effect. Who is the author? You guessed it. My all time favorite Jodi Picoult.

Jodi has a long standing writing career, having just published her 17th- yes, 17th- book at the beginning of the month, called House Rules. While I haven't yet read it because my library is painfully and disablingly slow at getting in new books, the premise sounds fantastic. Jodi takes an idea- a question, really- and delves into it to come out with an amazing book. She knows the ending before she even begins to write and she has perfected the art of blurring the lines, casting something negative into an understandable light and changing a reader's view as the books progress.

Even more impressively, Jodi is cranking these books out- all hitting at a page length of 400-500 or more, at one a year. She also has an ongoing timeline between the books which take place in the year written, often bringing characters back and updating their stories to account for how ever many years have passed. From the initial idea to deciding execution to the research, Jodi keeps busy and still delivers them timely. Most of her books take on a legal/courtroom aspect which is one more area she needs to research, more characters she needs to create, etc. The final product is awesome but when you take the time to really think about everything that each of her books hold, it's impressive. For all these reasons, and plenty more but I will stop my gushing now (And face it guys, I don't often gush), I most definitely appreciate this woman and even if you haven't read her books (in which case, I think you are severely deprived), I hope you can appreciate everything she does, how hard she works, and what she adds to the writing world.

For information about all her books, appearances, who she is, and plenty more, check out her website. You can also find her on twitter. Or you can check out her books.