Rebecca Stead
Rebecca Stead
Rebecca Steadis an American writer of fiction for children and teens. She won the American Newbery Medal in 2010, the oldest award in children's literature, for her second novel When You Reach Me...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionChildren's Author
Date of Birth16 January 1968
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
authors bit books course experience hoping mystery publishing remember since time work writers
I am hoping to work with writers publishing books for first time, since I of course remember what that experience is like. It's all a bit of a mystery for new authors who don't know what to expect.
dad feeling grew mostly second time
I grew up mostly an only child. My dad remarried when I was a teenager. And then I had two stepbrothers. And then my dad had a second child. So I have a brother from the time I was 15. But I really grew up feeling like an only child.
relaxed trying
On Sunday, I think the most important thing for me is to just turn my brain off. The idea of not trying is the key, because that's where you're relaxed enough to let your brain make new connections.
food kids shop
My kids really like food, and they like to cook, so it's a lot of fun to shop with them.
broader exploring questions time
I'm always thinking about identity. And the middle-school years are a time of exploring questions about who you are and who you want to be. For the first time, you see the world in a broader sense.
hard work
Try really, really hard not to judge your own work too harshly.
experience external internal package present versus
I try to write about internal experience versus the external self. I like to present ideas, but not package them neatly.
kid lived manhattan parts section west
I try to remember what it was like to be a kid in New York. I lived in different parts of my childhood in Manhattan on the Upper West Side, where 'When You Reach Me' is set, and also in the Midwood section of Brooklyn.
embody everybody kinds people prefer
As a reader, I much prefer to read a book where people embody all kinds of ideas and everybody is making mistakes.
anyone familiar knows plenty time
Anyone who's familiar with my writing schedule knows that there is always plenty of time between books for me!
people
I think we must all feel that there are people out there who know things about our young selves, you know, our early, early lives, that no one else can ever know.
book felt inspired loved sort trying
I think that my first book - I was trying to write the kind of book I would have loved as a kid. So it's sort of, like, a book inspired by my childhood reading and the passion that I felt about reading when I was a kid.
allowed bit
I think things hit me very hard, and I wish I had allowed things to roll off my back a little bit more.
books help learning noticing reactions teach
I think that's one of the most important things that books do: not to teach you anything, but to help you teach yourself by just being in the world of the book and having your own thoughts and reactions and noticing your own reactions and thoughts and learning about yourself that way.