Carolyn Mackler
Encyclopedia
Carolyn Mackler is an American author of young adult literature. She has written five novels including Love and Other Four-Letter Words, The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things
, which won the Michael L. Printz award, Vegan Virgin Valentine, Guyaholic: A Story of Finding, Flirting, Forgetting...and the Boy Who Changes Everything, Tangled. Her novels are in print in many different countries such as: the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Korea, the Netherlands, Denmark, Israel, and Indonesia. Mackler has also contributed to many teen magazines including Seventeen, Storyworks, Glamour, Girl's Life, American Girl, and CosmoGIRL!.
, later to Syracuse, New York
, and finally to Brockport, New York
, which is the setting for many of her novels. Mackler was always interested in writing, and from an early age tested her talent at it. Beginning at age four she created a newspaper with her best friend, recorded stories on a tape recorder, and dictated her stories to her mother who wrote them down for her. She lived in Brockport until leaving for college in 1991. From 1991-1995 she attended Vassar College where she obtained a degree in Art History in 1995. After college, Mackler drifted and lived in Seattle, Washington
briefly before returning to New York City in December 1995. In 2003, Mackler married her husband and they now live in an apartment in Manhattan with their young son.
Children's books. Her second novel The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things was released in 2003, the year Mackler and her husband married. This novel eventually won the Printz award, and the next year Mackler published Vegan Virgin Valentine. Her novel Guyaholic: A Story of Finding, Flirting, Forgetting...and the Boy Who Changes Everything was released in August 2007, and Tangled was published in 2009.
, Lois Lowry
, M.E. Kerr, and Norma Klein
. Mackler writes on her website of the importance of novels for young adults and their influence on her:
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things is a 2003 young adult novel by Carolyn Mackler.-Plot summary:Virginia "Ginny" Shreves is an overweight, self-conscious sophomore at a private high school in Manhattan. She has a make out buddy, Froggy Welsh the Fourth, and she doesn't want him to see...
, which won the Michael L. Printz award, Vegan Virgin Valentine, Guyaholic: A Story of Finding, Flirting, Forgetting...and the Boy Who Changes Everything, Tangled. Her novels are in print in many different countries such as: the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Korea, the Netherlands, Denmark, Israel, and Indonesia. Mackler has also contributed to many teen magazines including Seventeen, Storyworks, Glamour, Girl's Life, American Girl, and CosmoGIRL!.
Personal life
Mackler was born in Manhattan, but when she was one her parents moved to Greenwich VillageGreenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
, later to Syracuse, New York
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
, and finally to Brockport, New York
Brockport, New York
Brockport is a village located in the Town of Sweden in Monroe County, New York, USA. The population was 8,103 at the 2000 census. The name is derived from Hiel Brockway, an early settler....
, which is the setting for many of her novels. Mackler was always interested in writing, and from an early age tested her talent at it. Beginning at age four she created a newspaper with her best friend, recorded stories on a tape recorder, and dictated her stories to her mother who wrote them down for her. She lived in Brockport until leaving for college in 1991. From 1991-1995 she attended Vassar College where she obtained a degree in Art History in 1995. After college, Mackler drifted and lived in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
briefly before returning to New York City in December 1995. In 2003, Mackler married her husband and they now live in an apartment in Manhattan with their young son.
Career
A few months after returning to New York City, Mackler took an internship at Ms. magazine where she began writing articles and learning about the writing world. However, Mackler was never satisfied with writing for a magazine and in 1997 decided to take a course at NYU entitled Beginning Your Novel. During this time, Mackler began her first draft of Love and Other Four-Letter Words, it was published in 2000 by Random HouseRandom House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
Children's books. Her second novel The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things was released in 2003, the year Mackler and her husband married. This novel eventually won the Printz award, and the next year Mackler published Vegan Virgin Valentine. Her novel Guyaholic: A Story of Finding, Flirting, Forgetting...and the Boy Who Changes Everything was released in August 2007, and Tangled was published in 2009.
Influences
Carolyn Mackler was a self-proclaimed misfit in junior high; she never felt she completely fit in, and this has been a determining factor in her deciding to write young adult novels. Throughout junior high and high school, Mackler read many young adult novels in order to escape the belief that no one understood her. She read voraciously, but among her favorite authors were: Judy BlumeJudy Blume
Judy Blume is an American author. She has written many novels for children and young adults which have exceeded sales of 80 million and been translated into 31 languages...
, Lois Lowry
Lois Lowry
Lois Lowry is an American author of children's literature. She began her career as a photographer and a freelance journalist during the early 1970s...
, M.E. Kerr, and Norma Klein
Norma Klein
Norma Klein was a US children's book author. She was born, grew up and lived in New York City for most of her life. She died, after a brief illness, in New York City....
. Mackler writes on her website of the importance of novels for young adults and their influence on her:
"People often ask me now why I write novels for teenagers. Lots of reasons. One of the biggest reasons is that I honestly believe that, along with certain friendships, I was saved by the books I read during those years. They spoke to me in a way that nothing else did. They helped me feel less alone. They made me laugh. They made me feel like there was a world bigger than my high school."
Novels
- Love and Other Four-Letter Words (2000)
- The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round ThingsThe Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round ThingsThe Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things is a 2003 young adult novel by Carolyn Mackler.-Plot summary:Virginia "Ginny" Shreves is an overweight, self-conscious sophomore at a private high school in Manhattan. She has a make out buddy, Froggy Welsh the Fourth, and she doesn't want him to see...
(2003, Michael L. Printz Honor) - Vegan Virgin ValentineVegan Virgin ValentineVegan Virgin Valentine is a young adult novel by Carolyn Mackler. The story follows Mara Valentine, a high school senior in Brockport, New York headed to Yale University, whose life is turned upside down when her sixteen-year-old niece Vivienne, who goes only by her first initial V, comes to live...
(2004) - Guyaholic: A Story of Finding, Flirting, Forgetting...and the Boy Who Changes Everything (2007)
- Tangled (2009)
- The Future of UsThe Future of UsThe Future of Us is a 2011 contemporary fiction novel written by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler. The novel was published on November 21, 2011 by Razorbill, a division of Penguins Young Readers Group.-Plot:...
(2011) - Co-written with Jay AsherJay AsherJay Asher is an American writer of contemporary novels for teens. He has one major publication in the genre of Young Adult Literature.-Biography:...