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M.E. KERR

M.E. KERR. Born Marijane Meaker on May 27, 1927 in Auburn, Long Island, New York. Her mother’s name was Ida, and her father, Ellis R. Meaker, was a mayonnaise manufacturer. Author’s life and style…. High school at Stuart Hall in Virginia, a boarding school Vermont Junior College (1945)

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M.E. KERR

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  1. M.E. KERR Born Marijane Meaker on May 27, 1927 in Auburn, Long Island, New York. Her mother’s name was Ida, and her father, Ellis R. Meaker, was a mayonnaise manufacturer.

  2. Author’s life and style… • High school at Stuart Hall in Virginia, a boarding school • Vermont Junior College (1945) • University of Missouri (1946-49), majored in English literature  • After graduating, moved to New York with college friends and found jobs at a publishing firms. • Sold her first piece of fiction and established a career as a writer

  3. Author’s life and style… • Memories of her youth…her antics growing up in upstate New York - life with her parents and two brothers, her escapades with her friends - platonic and romantic • Experiences at boarding school and being part of a sorority • Marijane was always in trouble, always the outsider, always looking for ways to express her voice, her identity

  4. Primary relationship issues • Parents-siblings • Student-teacher • Peer-friend • Romance-first loves in general  • Themes are serious ones, but Kerr can’t help but inject humor into her writing   • Perspective is always fresh and unique

  5. “the underdog…the outlaw character, the misfit” • Tolerance, prejudice, denial / acceptance of people with different backgrounds, beliefs, lifestyles and socio-economic status • “I was aware of social class ever since… I went off to boarding school thinking I was rich” until she met children of heads of international corporations. “I was very, very surprised, and have always since paid attention to the haves and have-nots.”

  6. Gentlehands (1978) • Young love • Buddy takes sophisticated Skye to visit his handsome, aristocratic grandfather • Rumor that “Gentlehands”, a Nazi war criminal, is in town • Good and evil

  7. Awards forGentlehands • Best of the Best Books 1966-1992, ALA • Best Books for Young Adults, 1978, ALA • ALA Notable Children's Books of 1978 • Best Children's Books of 1978, School Library Journal • Winner, 1978 Christopher Award • Best Children's Books of 1978, New York Times • Cited for Margaret A. Edwards Award, 1993    Overseas Titles • Sanfthand (German) • Fluwelen Vingers (Dutch)

  8. Sexuality and sexual orientation • are topics touched upon and explored in varying degrees of detail though never explicitly • Kerr has a way with words that is neither embarrassing nor patronizing when it comes to the subject of hormonal urges and desires

  9. Deliver Us From Evie (1994) • Sexual orientation • Farm life in a small town • Parents • Siblings • Identity • Moving on

  10. Deliver Us from Evie    awards & honors • 1995 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA) • 1995 Recommended Books for Reluctant Young Adult Readers (ALA) • 1995 Fanfare Honor List (The Horn Book) • 1995 Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library) • 1994 Best Book Honor Award (Michigan Library Association) • VOYA survey, 2000: Best Young Adult Novels of the ’90’s, top 12 --National Council of English Teachers’ Assembly on Literature of Adolescents

  11. YA responses to “Deliver Us From Evie” From: Jessie Submitted: Monday, December 22, 2003 I just wanted to voice how much I loved Deliver Us From Evie. I read it my sophomore year, as it was the only lesbian-themed book I could find in our school library. I can't even begin to say how much it meant to me to be able to identify with this book.... I loved that the parents were understanding...They acted the way most parents would...Trying to be supportive at times, yet dissaproving and not quite being able to understand. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for writing this book. FROM ANONYMOUS:I found deliver us from evie when i was 11 i think it was the first young adult book i read with a gay or lesbian character in it. later the book along with some others helped me realize more that i was not the only gay or questioning teen out there. it's reassuring to find a book with gay characters that are not portrayed as bad or doomed. just wanted to tell M.E. Kerr thanks for writing. i still go back and read parts of deliver us from evie when i don't feel all that great about myself. http://www.mekerr.com/

  12. Boarding schoolSecret societies Social class Ventriloquism, or (cultivating a separate voice) Mysteries FELL (1987) FELL BACK (1989) FELL DOWN (1991)

  13. Realistic fiction LITTLE LITTLE (1981) Dwarfism Class differences Physical differences Societal expectations NIGHT KITES (1986) Family conflicts Brothers AIDS Friendships Romance Career choices “HELLO,” I LIED (1997) Homosexuality Bisexuality Rock Music

  14. Religion, Religious Differences What I Really Think of You (1983) Daughter of a Pentacostal preacher Son of a television Evangelist Him She Loves? (1984) Henry Schiller, 16, his family's move to Long Island and their new German restaurant. Valerie Kissenwiser who is Jewish (he is not) and whose father forbids their dating.

  15. Historical fiction Your Eyes in Stars (2006) Slap Your Sides (2001) 1933-1935 City and town life in NYC Racism Patriotism Prisons & prisoners 1939-1942 Conscientious objectors Friendships, family Brothers

  16. "When I think of myself and what I would have liked to have found in books those many years ago, I remember being depressed by all the neatly tied-up, happy-ending stories, the abundance of winners, the themes of winning, solving, finding - when around me it didn't seem that easy.” • “So I write with a different feeling when I write for young adults. I guess I write for myself at that age."

  17. “I always wanted to be a writer. I think it was the combination of my father’s reading and my mother’s gossiping. She began every conversation with ‘Wait until you hear this…’ I would have listened to my mother than a soap opera because she made the small town so alive for me.” M.E. Kerr 1998

  18. “When I write for young adults… I know they’re still wrestling with very important problems …not feeling accepted… prejudice, love — all the things adults ultimately get hardened to, and forgetful of.  I know my audience hasn’t yet made up their minds about everything, that they’re still vulnerable and open to suggestion and able to change their minds…Give me that kind of an audience any day!” Kerr and Michelle Koh, webmaster www.mekerr.com 2004

  19. M.E. KERR • In 1993, Marijane Meaker received the ALA’s Margaret A. Edwards Award for her lifetime achievement in writing for young adults • Ashawagh Hall, where M. E. Kerr teaches classes in writing

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