Meredith Sue Willis's
Page for Teens
About Books and WritingMSW Home Page
Books by Meredith Sue Willis
Books for Teens Recommended by Teens
The 2023 New York State Youth Poet Laureate Stephanie Pacheco of the Bronx!
Welcome members of Heather Lustig-Curran's Creative Writing Club of Louisa County High School in Mineral, Virginia!
Magazines that publish work by children and teens
Welcome to my page for teens. This site isn't very fancy, but it has information about about books and writing and other things that might be of interest to you. See the left-hand column for contents.
I'm always looking for suggestions-- especially for books you like! Please write to me at meredithsuewillis@gmail.com. I would happily publish your reviews of books!
The picture above is of MSW with Bethany Nutter, who was the Top Honors winner for the high school section of the West Virginia "Letters About Literature" project. She'll be going on to Washington to represent West Virginia. (Read more here)
Meredith Sue Willis with Park Ridge High School students
Julia, Neil, Alejandra, John, and Brandon
MSW with Junior Counselors and their teachers at High Rocks
in Pocahontas County, West Virginia
From the desk of Patrick Ryan Editor-in-Chief One Teen Story Issue #58
The game is life. Life is the game. So it is for the main character in Carlie Schwarm’s “Press Space to Continue,” one of the winning stories in our Teen Writing Contest. The game, in this case, doesn’t involve chases through forests or mortal combat or even a group of obsessed athletes wanting their team to succeed. The game is on-screen (or is it?) and is being played alone (maybe) by a kid named Owen. Only, the boundaries have blurred. Where does the game stop and Owen’s life resume?
And then there’s William, the young man who is suddenly there in the game with Owen, or is suddenly there in Owen’s life, or is—somehow—in both.
When I asked Carlie Schwarm, in our Q&A, if she left some of these things deliberately vague, the answer was a confident yes—even while she told me the original draft of the story was nearly five times the length it is now. I love a story that has the guts to remain a little vague, and I love a story that raises questions and leaves some of those questions unanswered, allowing the reader to take part by speculating. “Press Space to Continue” does both of those things to great effect. We’re excited to introduce you to Owen and his game.
Article by Maplewood, NJ teen in the Huffington Post!Teen Poets in New Jersey!
Writers Theatre of New Jersey is launching a new program to encourage and showcase the work of teen poets across New Jersey. The inaugural NJ Youth Poet Laureate program seeks original poems from high school students.
THREE young poets will be chosen: one each to represent the North, Central, and South regions of the state (so if another excuse to enter is needed - there's a much better chance than a lot of other contests).
The NJ Youth Poet Laureate program is open to any high school student in New Jersey who will submit a maximum of five poems. These poems should be original, but as such can be brand new creations for this contest, or existing poems that the students have previously written. There are no other guidelines with regard to length or content aside from one poem must be what we're calling a "poem of place" that describes in some way the place where the poet is from. Otherwise, entries can be traditional rhyming poetry, free verse, spoken word, or rap - the style doesn't matter as long as it is original.
Additional information about the contest is found online at: https://www.wtnj.org/nj-youth-poet-laureate/. Submissions should be sent through the website.
Each of the three winners will receive a Governor's Award, the opportunity to perform their poems at poetry events throughout the state, and publication in a poetry anthology.
More Stuff
A blog about Books for Teens
Book Reviews and suggestions by Teens
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The Following List is from the Ninth Grade English classes
at Park Ridge High School in Park Ridge, New Jersey
The 5 People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Alburn
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Emma by Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
Rebel Angels by Libba Bray
The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray
Curtain by Agatha Christie
Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech
Dreamland by Sarah Dessen
Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen
The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant
Looking for Alaska by John Green
The Pelican Brief by John Grisham
Carrie Stephen King
The Stand by Stephen King
Call of the Wild by Jack London
What Dreams My Come by Richard Matheson
1984 by George Orwell
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks
Killing John by Nicholas Sparks
The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks
Message in a Bottle by Nicholas Sparks
The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
Deadly Little Lies by Laurie Stoltz
Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Huckleberry Finn by Mark TwainSeries:
Artemis Fowl Series
Eragon series by Christopher Paolini
Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer
Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
The Pretty Little Liars (series) by Sara Shepard
Goosebumps Series by R.L. Stein
Authors:
Judy Blume
Meg Cabot
James Patterson
Nathan Weinberger from Brookline, MA suggests...
1. Any of the multiple series set in the Forgotten Realms universe by R.A. Salvatore. He has written seven or eight different series following pretty much the same group of characters. The series do go in a certain order, but you can get away with reading them out of order. All of the characters seem like real people and I would read the books even if they didn’t have a plot because the characters are so well written.
2. The Sword of Truth Series by Terry Goodkind. They are set in a really interesting world with magic and sword fights. Really interesting characters and plots.
3. The Song and Sword series by Elaine Cunningham. Also set in the Forgotten Realms universe, they follow a half-elf and her dandy companion on all sorts of adventures. They are funny and great.
4. Spearwielders Tale by R.A. Salvatore. A trilogy about a man who is kidnapped and taken to the magical land of Faerie just because he is the perfect size to fit into a dead heroes armor. These books are hilarious and also really well written.
5. Evermeet: Isle of Elves by Elaine Cunningham. The Forgotten Realms has a series of stand alone novels that take place in one of the main cities in the Forgotten Realms universe. This is a complete history of Evermeet starting with the Elvin gods and the creation of the elves.
6. The City of Splendors by Ed Greenwood and Elaine Cunningham. Another in the Cities series. This one takes place in Waterdeep and follows many different characters for about a year.
7. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. This book is 1500 pages long so it shouldn’t be stepped into lightly. I am only half way through it but so far it is really great.
Samiel Cameron of South Orange, NJ suggests:
Manchild in the Promised Land
.... is indeed one of the most remarkable autobiographies of our time. This fictionalized account of Claude Brown's childhood as a hard, streetwise criminal trying to survive the toughest streets of Harlem has been heralded as the definitive account of everyday life for the first generation of African Americans raised in the ghettos of the 1940s and 1950s. When the book was first published in 1965, it was praised for its realistic portrayal of Harlem — the children, young people, hardworking parents; the hustlers, drug dealers, prostitutes, and numbers runners; the police; the violence, sex, and humor. The book continues to be a hit generations later, not only because of its fierce and dignified anger, not only because the struggles of urban youth are as deeply felt today as they were in Brown's time, but also because the book is affirmative and inspiring. Here is the story about the one who "made it," the boy who kept landing on his feet and became a man.
Running with Scissors
The story of running with scissors is a memoir about Augusten Burroughs. While most memoirs invoke an annoyance for the self-pitying victim, Scissors does anything but. The book describes Burrough’s rocky childhood in the 1970'sw Massachusetts. His Bipolar mother identifies with suicidal poets such, as Anne Sexton; his professor father drinks instead of dealing with the family’s issues, and the psychiatrist who treats him seems to have more problems than the entire family combined.Two things make Burrough’s book so compelling: his wit and his personal depiction of the wild going ons in this strange family. Through the eyes of an observant teenager, Burroughs captures the 70's spirit of questioning every institution and tradition from mental monogamy to traditional education. Although he conveys the pain of this period, Burrough doesn’t ladle on the disapproval of the neo-conservatives, and instead captures this strange time in America—from the corny TV shows to the obsession with talk therapy. As funny as this book is, Burroughs memoir is shocking and disturbing because its all real. I highly recommend this book!!!
The Da Vinci Code
It is a considerable achievement of Dan Brown to have written a thriller that is both fascinating and fun. The Da Vinci Code takes us in hot pursuit of nothing less than the Holy Grail, which turns out not to be the legendary cup of Christ, but a trove of documents proving dramatic facts about Jesus that the Catholic Church has been suppressing for nearly two millennia. After Brown’s hero, Robert Langdon, a Harvard professor of religion symbology delivers a lecture in Paris, police summon him to the Louvre, where the renowned curator Jacques Sauniere has been murdered. The dead man left behind an enigmatic message that mentions Langdon’s name. The scholar soon realizes he is about to be charged with the crime, and accompanied by Sauniere’s
granddaughter Sophie, he flees.The novel alternates between conventional chase scenes and scholarly digressions. Brown keeps the book fast paced, the puzzles leading to the Grail exceedingly clever, and there are a flurry of surprises and betrayals before the mystery is finally solved. Whatever the reader makes of the religious theories put forth, Brown has a great deal of interest to say about the early days of Christianity. How much of this is fact and how much is fiction??? Read the book and make up your own mind.
Samiel M.S. Cameron of Columbia High School, Maplewood, New
Jersey, has had articles, essays and original poetry published in several community newspapers and statewide teen periodicals. Samiel's essay "Colorism" won her the annual 2006 Silver Award for Literary from the NAACP - N.J. ACT-SO.. Samiel was recommended by South Orange Rotary as one of 21 students to travel to Japan as a student ambassador. Samiel aspires to become a journalist.
Courtney Zanosky of New Jersey, says, "I would highly recommend Looking for Alaska by John Green. It's my favorite book to date.
Christine M. from Bergen County, New Jersey says:
I read a whole lot. My mom yells at my sister to read more, and then my mom yells at me for reading too much. I like a lot of fantasy. I really like historical fiction with swords, arrows, and chivalry instead of now-a-days guns and problems. I really like Harry Potter, and let's face it, who doesn't? I really really like Lord of the Rings. Phantom of the Opera is a good book, and so is Timeline. Twilight is a really good chick book, and the Inkheart series I am a little old for, but the sequel just came out, and it was wonderful. I really like a lot of books!
Reviews of Meli's Way by Juniors
at Arroyo Grande High School in California!
Meli's Way by Meredith Sue Willis is a short and engaging book right from the start. It was a lot more interesting than I expected and is filled with lots of interesting parts. I really enjoyed how the book followed a long Meli's life as a teen and her experiences leading up to the terrorist attack. Although I read the back cover of the book and was aware than a terrorist attack would occur, I still never really expected it to happen; it was a very engaging plot twist to the story. The book was very simply written in a way that was easy to understand and to the point. I also enjoyed how Meli is a little quirky with many different aspects to her personality, and when she started to enjoy volleyball and made lots of new friends at her new school shows the development of her character and her as a teen which is relatable. I thought it was interesting how the majority of the book showed her emotions and thoughts as she went through the process of adjusting to new teachers and different types of people (including pregnant teens giving birth in the girls' bathroom) after transferring from such a prestigious school. Right before the terrorist attack occurred I especially liked how Meli notices the terrorist and points out how he looks different than everybody else; her unique intelligent personality notices that the man in the hood was different and she pays attention to close enough detail to notice that he was grinning. Throughout the entire story I really liked who her character developed into and how her development was shown through new experiences of love, travel, and friends.
Elli Bass Junior, Arroyo Grande High School, California
.
"The Life of Meli" is well written with a very surprising plot which keeps the reader on their toes. The plot shifts frequently and never slows down. A lot of cultures were represented which was refreshing. The ideas presented were surface-level and a tad clichéd but well developed.
Mary Waterman Junior, Arroyo Grande High School, California
.
I enjoyed Meli's Way because it was quite unlike any other book I had read. The story was quite entertaining and multi-faceted. It handled a variety of serious subjects; including terrorism, war, and religion, and managed to do so very tactfully by having the characters of the book discus it amongst each other, showing multiple valid viewpoints. While many books simply dismiss terrorists as faceless evils or as simple plot devices, this book tries to show how people aren't evil, they just become misguided and lose their own morals. However the dialogue and narration did feel a bit awkward and unnatural at times and most of the characters seemed fairly one dimensional with little development throughout the book. Still, overall I liked the book and would recommend it to anyone who's looking for a quick but entertaining read.
Brady Goodell Junior, Arroyo Grande High School, California
Suggestions for Reading from Older People
Tricia Idrobo (see her blog here)
Beyond the Dragon Portal
A guy tries for ten minutes to merge onto a busy boulevard, cursing out the drivers that pass as ignorant and selfish. Finally someone gives him a break. Once on the road, he goes by several merges further on, also with long back-ups of cars waiting to get on. His friend suggests allowing in one of the cars. “Why should I let in any of those idiots?” he responds. “I’m in a hurry.”
It is just human nature to assess our own motives as reasonable and justified, and
the motives of others as selfish, despicable, or even evil. This habit, while bad enough on the interpersonal level, can become deadly when practiced by groups or nations. Yet that mindset can be transformed by the simple act of getting to know the “enemy” or “other” and engaging in problem-solving.
I love stories that confront us with this truth. In the middle-grade novel Beyond the Dragon Portal (2005- Melissa Glenn Haber) Sadie travels to Dragonland to find her lost sister. Just when she thinks she understands this strange land and is fired up with anger against the enemy who is killing her dragon friends, she discovers that the truth about the Dragons’ war is much more complicated than she thought. I don’t want to give anything away, but this well-crafted story cleverly enables readers to get an insider’s view of the “enemy” and of war..
The People of Sparks: I love books for their characters and story. But they truly carve a place in my heart when their themes resonate with me and make me think. That is what gives a novel depth. I am a lover of themes!
In particular I’m keen on themes that make me reflect not only on the world as it is, but on the way it could be. For example, The People of Sparks (2004- Jeanne DuPrau, Book 2 of the Ember series) is an endearing children’s novel of a girl and boy caught up in a deteriorating conflict between their people and the people of the city to which they have fled. The characters are memorable and the story is engaging. But its depth is achieved through exploring the themes of understanding, mistrust and hatred. The main characters Lina and Doon act in a dangerous situation with the simple but profound solution of helping rather than hating. Their actions completely transform the situation in Sparks.
Children reading the book witness a wonderful model for dealing with inflamed group emotions. “Helping rather than hating” is a theme that resonates deep in the heart.
Ice
This novel by Edward Myers is about two teenagers and a car accident. It was a Silver Award Winner in the Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Awards. You can read a sample chapter here from this unusual Young Adult novel about a boy who was driving--on the night his girl friend was killed.
My 100 Million Dollar Secret
My 100 Million Dollar Secret is by David Weinberger, a well known journalist and blogger . This is about a boy whose father is a newspaper man on a crusade against the Lottery. Then the boy wins -- a tremendous amount of money! So the story is about how to hide something from your parents without lying, and also about how to spend and give away lots and lots of money. It has just a hint of love interest; it has an evil capitalist who runs the rival town newspaper. There are some mean girls who get a mild comeuppance, a little sister who picks up lice at school every year, and lots more. Even adults who’ve read it were enthusiastic. You can read this one for free! Go to https://www.my100milliondollarsecret.com/
Some Resources for essay writing
https://bid4papers.com/blog/hook-for-essay/ - learning to grab readers instantly with a strong essay opening.
https://oedb.org/library/features/150-writing-resources - resource to find more writing resources.
https://kimberlychapman.com/essay/essay.html - a tutorial on essay writing.
`'Your Life in Comics: 100 Things for Guys to Write and Draw' at: https://bit.ly/Your-Life-in-Comics. A sampling can also be found in the printables section of MakeBeliefsComix.com at https://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Printables/
Send the author feedback at wmz@aol.com.
Magazines and more that publish teens
Do you have a younger sib who is interested in books and writing? I have a page for them too: Kids!
This web site is always being revised-- please send suggestions and ideas for books to Meredith SueWillis@gmail.com or click on the feed-back page.
Writing Prompts
Here are a just a few exercises to get you going on some writing-- I put new exercises on my main Writing Exercises page often, and if you like to write, you might look there for ideas. For Poetry Writing Exercises, try Teachers & Writers' Writenet.com virtual poetry workshop.
Also, take a look at WriteFix online.
Freya Matthews-Whelan submitted this writing idea:
Step 1. Find a small phrase or paragraph from a novel or another interesting story
Step 2. Then finish the rest of the story..(Here is an example, the beginning of a story called "A Dark Brown Dog" by Stephen Crane)
A Child was standing on a street-corner. He leaned with one shoulder against a high board-fence and swayed the other to and fro, while kicking carelessly at the gravel.
Sunshine beat upon the cobbles, and a lazy summer wind raised yellow dust which trailed in clouds down the avenue. Clattering trucks moved with indistinctness through it. The child stood dreamily gazing...
After you've written, compare your version to the original story here.
— Write a scene from your past when you expected one thing and got another. This may sound like it is about disappointment, but it may not be.
— You are on vacation. You are at a beach house with your family, or in a
hotel in a city you have always wanted to visit when there is a knock at the
door, and into your situation of relaxation or excitement comes the person
you least expected to see.
— Take this extremely short and dull bit of dialogue. Rewrite it, adding
more. First, write it as a conversation between yourself and an elderly
woman. What you add may include longer speeches, more speeches, a setting, description, gestures, and anything else you want to add. Now write it again, as if spoken by two very close friends. Here is the bare-bones
dialogue: "Hi." "Hi." "Where were you?" "Nowhere."
— We found it in the attic one rainy afternoon. We had never seen anything
like it...
— Someone wakes up in a strange place. The person observes the place in some detail, then begins to piece together how this happened...
— A person is eating a meal which could be a quick snack on the street or a
special holiday meal with family, or a sandwich after a first date or even a
meal of unfamiliar and perhaps unappealing foods. Focus on the senses,
especially touch, smell, and taste, and what the person is thinking about as
he or she eats.
— Think of three people. Write about each of them getting angry. What characteristic gestures do they use? What tones of voice? Emphasize their physical action and how it shows their anger, but feel free to include dialogue and what is going on inside them.
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