AuthorBuzz

Where It Begins By Helena Hunting Forgetting to Remember By M.J. Rose      
Where It Begins
Meet the author
Helena Hunting
Forgetting to Remember
Meet the author
M.J. Rose
       


Jacqueline Woodson

Dear Librarians,

The first time I read Go Ask Alice, I was twelve years old. For some reason, I thought it was a book I should be reading secretly. There was something dangerous about it as though the diarist was whispering her story solely to me.

BENEATH A METH MOON whispers a similar story. When I first started writing it, the voice of Laurel Daneau, came to me as a whisper – her soft southern drawl recounting a story of a love lost and an addiction gained. I saw her brilliantly white-blond hair, her delicate hands, her confusion. I heard her grandmother's laughter, felt her mother's love. And slowly, I saw the tragedy of meth sneaking toward her. As I wrote and rewrote this book, my experience of reading Go Ask Alice came back to me. As a child, that book changed me forever. I was terrified of heroin and knew it was a drug I'd never experiment with. Writing BENEATH A METH MOON produced a similar experience. At the end of Go Ask Alice, the diarist dies. I knew one thing – I did not want Laurel Daneau to die.

BENEATH A METH MOON is Laurel Daneau's story. It is a story about a young girl from Pass Christian, Mississippi and a story about the people who save her. But more than that, BENEATH A METH MOON is the story of Laurel's deep and beautiful resilience.

Thanks for reading it.
Jacqueline Woodson
www.JacquelineWoodson.com
Beneath A Meth Moon / Jacqueline Woodson / Nancy Paulsen Books / Hardcover; 192 Pages
Price: $16.99 / ISBN: 978-0399252501 / Published: February, 2012
Jacqueline Woodson is one of our featured authors this week. Click here to view her reader comments and feel free to use them in your newsletters.