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
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.
kids
I think that kids are a wonderful, wonderful reader to have in your head.
age bit home independence positive scary walking
From age nine, my friends and I were on the streets, walking home, going to each other's houses, going to the store. I really wanted to write about that: the independence that's a little bit scary but also a really positive thing in a lot of ways.
I think of 'Liar & Spy' as completely different and actually not at all like a 'When You Reach Me'-type story. I feel like 'Liar & Spy' has a much quieter, more emotional revelation.
earrings hanging homemade lovely wall
I would never look a gift horse in the mouth. I've had some lovely homemade earrings and, recently, a wall hanging made in the style of Georges Seurat.
avoid books tend
My books tend to have a lot of questions in them, and they tend to avoid black and white, for lack of a better metaphor.
mostly prefer telling
Mostly what I try to do is build emotion. Only I'd prefer not to do it by telling you about emotion but by pushing that emotion down.
change good kids shorthand time
'Middle school' is used as shorthand for a time when things change. It's a time a lot of kids feel like they don't even have one good friend.
allowed freedom kids life
We're allowed as adults to create a life that we like. Kids don't have that freedom.
rarely ways
I do try to write in ways that reflect reality, and I think that reality is rarely simple.
answer asked books connection definitely
I asked myself what it was that I wanted from writing and where my connection with books began, and the answer to that question was definitely in childhood, because that's where my connection with reading began.
felt hallway horrific knowing remember steady vulnerable
I felt vulnerable and very much between friends. I remember walking down the hallway and thinking I had no way of knowing what was coming, literally. This wasn't because I had some horrific bullying story, but because of a steady drip of negativity.
actively books
A lot of my ideas for books come from newspaper articles. But I don't like to be actively looking for ideas.