The Giver by Lois Lowry

Bibliographic Information: Lowry, Lois. The Giver. Houghton Mifflin 1993. ISBN 9780395645666
Genre: Fantasy fiction, Metaphorical tales, Coming of age stories, Classroom literature.
Reading Level: Grades 6-12
Curriculum ties: History, Language arts, Science, Sociology.
Awards:1994 Newbery Medal, An ALA Notable Children’s Book, An ALA Best Book for Young Adults.
Note: First book in a Trilogy. Gathering Blue (2000), Messenger (2004).

Reader’s Annotation: When twelve year old Jonas receives his life assignment at the annual Ceremony, he begins to better understand the world in which he lives.

Plot Summary: I Plot summary: The community strives towards fostering utopia society.  Citizens adhere to the strict rules.  Physical imperfections are not tolerated, including babies weighing under six pounds and the elderly.  Citizens who fail to contribute are tried, granted a maximum of three opportunities of improvement.  If they fail to improve or comply, they are punished by being released from the community. Upon the arrival of December, Jonas receives his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve.  Children receive a Ceremony corresponding with their age, such as Ceremony of Ten.  The most significant year is the Ceremony of Twelve because this is when they receive their lifetime assignment by the committee of Elders. The Assignment defines their role in society. Members undergo training for their assignment, in which they assume their role when they become adults. The Assignments serve as functional role to maintain the perfect society, including the Giver, the Instructor, and the Nurturer.  During the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas receives the most honorable Assignment. The Giver provides the training for Jonas to endure the responsibility of holding all the memories, encompassing happiness and pain. During the training, Jonas discovers the true methods to maintaining their ideal community.

Critical evaluation: The Giver is rich in symbolism and metaphors. The primary goal of the community to attain the perfect society parallels the goals of Hitler and other political leaders.  The irrational methods of maintaining the perfection by eliminating those who are less than perfect is similar to the genocide of Jews by Hitler. This notion leads this author to question the true value of living in a perfect society. Important figures in the community are named by their role, for example, “the Giver, “the Nurturer,” and “the Instructor”. The capitalization of the first letter signifies the importance of title and role in the community and the person assuming this large feat.  The substitution of the title demonstrates that each citizen loses his or her own identity and becomes only the function. The initial identity of children as numbers is similar to the prisoner barcodes, a mere number with no personality or individuality. Sameness is regarded as a high value.  The maintenance of sameness and perfection requires extreme control. The theme is control-controlling emotions, behaviors, thoughts, decisions, and roles.  Citizens lose their ability to be creative and to be themselves. This concept is similar to the Amish way of life, sheltering people for technology and leading an austere life. Instead, they abide by the given Assignments, which are decided by the committee of Elders.  The citizens are prisoners to their ideal of utopia. Lowry examines the value of choice when Jonas chooses to make his own decision of saving Gabriel from being released.

Booktalking Ideas:
How would you describe your perfect world? Who make the rules?
2) What elements of the story, plot, characterization, etc. did you find to be the most controversial?
3) How important was the setting to this story? Could it have taken place anywhere?
4)Discuss the definition of family. Families are described as a unit.
5)Explore the benefits and hindrances of sheltering from negative emotions and events.
6)Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of euthanasia.
Challenge Issues/ Defense:
Challenge Issues: Euthanasia —
Challenge defense ideas:
• Exposure to competing ideas provides us with variety, enriching our society.
In the book, the community accepts the challenges of this form of euthanasia:  Underneath the placid calm of Jonas’ society lies a very orderly and inexorable system of euthanasia, practiced on the very young who do not conform, the elderly, and those whose errors threaten the stability of the community.
The Giver was included to inform the youth about the value of freedom of choice.  In addition, The Giver allows youths to take an introspective look at their own values, prejudices and consider how they discriminate in their daily life.  The goal is to raise self-awareness.

Why was this book included?: A classic Fantasy novel for younger readers.
Author Information: I’ve always felt that I was fortunate to have been born the middle child of three. My older sister, Helen, was very much like our mother: gentle, family-oriented, eager to please. Little brother Jon was the only boy and had interests that he shared with Dad; together they were always working on electric trains and erector sets; and later, when Jon was older, they always seemed to have their heads under the raised hood of a car. That left me in-between, and exactly where I wanted most to be: on my own. I was a solitary child who lived in the world of books and my own vivid imagination.
Because my father was a career military officer – an Army dentist – I lived all over the world. I was born in Hawaii, moved from there to New York, spent the years of World War II in my mother’s hometown: Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and from there went to Tokyo when I was eleven. High school was back in New York City, but by the time I went to college (Brown University in Rhode Island), my family was living in Washington, D.C.

I married young. I had just turned nineteen – just finished my sophomore year in college – when I married a Naval officer and continued the odyssey that military life requires. California. Connecticut (a daughter born there). Florida (a son). South Carolina. Finally Cambridge, Massachusetts, when my husband left the service and entered Harvard Law School (another daughter; another son) and then to Maine – by now with four children under the age of five in tow.
(Author biography obtained from author website. Retrieved from: http://www.loislowry.com/bio.html)

Seventeen Magazine

Bibliographic Information: Shoket, Ann. Seventeen. Triangle Publications, Sept. 1944- current. ISSN 0037-301X.
Genre: Fashion, Beauty, young women
Reading Level: Ages 13+
Curriculum ties: Marketing, Sociology
Publisher: Triangle Publications
Awards: None
Note: website: http://www.seventeen.com

Reader’s Annotation: A monthly magazine for teen girls that covers beauty, health, fashion and more!

Content: In the midst of the advertisements, the magazine is broken down into fairly organized categories. The “Fashion” section has latest styles, bargain ideas, affordable accessories, and how to mix up your wardrobe to incorporate it into the next season. The “Beauty” section covers hair styles, care, and maintenance. Also makeup trends, tips and tricks. They also include reviews on products and tools. The “Health” section can range from fitness tips to STDs. This section is important because it covers issues that young girls are usually embarrassed to talk about. “Your Life” is a section where readers share their true stories which can range from Facebook mishaps to rape and abuse. One of the more popular sections is “Love Life” which discusses crushes, how to flirt, what is love and interviews with cute teen stars. Additional sections include horoscopes, giveaways, embarrassing stories, letters to the editor and a special section that highlights a current trendy issue such as prom.

Critical Evaluation: One of the downsides to this magazine was how some explicit sexual things were talked about that even made me blush a little. I didn’t know that young girls were reading “Things to do to satisfy your boyfriend” which talks about how to give oral sex. They do address teen pregnancy and STDs but I think some readers may be too young to have an instructional article. Other than that, there is a lot of commercial ads promoting materialism (about 15 pages worth before you get to the first article) but I think that girls enjoy looking at the latest trends. Not everyone must buy what the models are wearing but instead are encouraged to emulate the look at a less expensive price in the “Fashion” and “Freebee” sections. For the most part, this magazine is a fun expression of youth and fashion. Teens are drawn in by the starlets and fashion but usually come away learning more then they thought they would.

Booktalking Ideas: N/A

Challenge Issues/ Defense:

Challenge Issues: Some sexual content.

Challenge defense ideas:
• Since its title is, “Seventeen,” I assumed that it would be appropriate for girls in the teen range.
Most articles promote safe sex or abstinence saying that sex broke relationships and was unhealthy.

Why was this book included?: Included as a representation of magazines tailored to female teens and a wide range of interests such as fashion, beauty and boys.

Editor Information: Ann Shoket was named editor-in-chief of Seventeen magazine in January 2007. Under her helm, the fashion and beauty icon publication for teen girls continues to represent an important rite of passage, helping more than 13 million readers grow up to be confident, self-assured young women. Shoket has grown the brand beyond the pages of the magazine so that teen girls can be a part of the Seventeen universe wherever they are: on our Web site, in print, on partner sites, social networking platforms and on Seventeen Fashion Finder, the recently launched iPhone application.
Shoket lead the magazine to become the number one teen magazine on the newsstand within her first year, the first time the magazine has held that position since Hearst purchased it in 2003. Additionally, after a successful relaunch of Seventeen.com in April of 2007, the Web site continues to be the number one teen magazine site and the top 10 of all teen sites.

For the past two years Shoket was named as the one of the most powerful magazine editors on the Forbes Most Powerful U.S. Fashion Magazine Editors annual list. She currently serves on the Media Advisory Board for The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. She also participates in the Benefit Committee for the Fresh Air Fund and as a teen advisor for Step Up Women’s Network.

Shoket made her mark on the iconic brand by implementing fun interactive editorial programs that inspire confidence among Seventeen readers and celebrate real girl experts in fashion, beauty and college. One of the most buzz-worthy programs is the “Seventeen Body Peace Project,” am ongoing initiative to help girls stop obsessing about what their body looks like, start appreciating it for what it can do, and, and ultimately make peace with their bodies. Seventeen also launched the ground-breaking integrated print and Web reality program “Freshman 15,” which gives millions of teens an inside scoop on the often overwhelming emotional and lifestyle changes taking place at college.

Prior to Seventeen, Shoket was executive editor of CosmoGIRL! magazine since October 2003, and originally joined as senior editor at its launch in 1999.

Before CosmoGIRL!, Shoket was senior editor with the Parade family of publications, where she launched the style section for Parade’s teen news magazine, React. At the beginning of the dot-com boom, she created the independent Web magazine Tag, which gave voice to an online community of artists and writers. She began her career as a reporter with renowned journalist Steve Brill at The American Lawyer. She has a B.A., cum laude, from New York University and a certificate in Media Management from The New School.

(Editor information obtained by the Huffington Post website. Retrieved from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ann-shoket).

Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard

Bibliographic Information: Shepard, Pretty Little Liars. HarperTempest, 2006. ISBN 0060887303
Genre: Chick-Lit, Mystery
Reading Level: Grades 9-12
Curriculum ties: Sociology
Awards: None
Note: Book 1 in the Pretty Little Liars Series. Television adaptation (June 2010)

Reader’s Annotation: Anonymous text messages of past events haunt a group of high school junior, afraid that all of their secretes will be revealed.

Plot Summary: A group of high school juniors in Rosewood,Pensylvania; Spencer, Aria, Emily, and Hanna, have been friends since junior high school. They begin to drift apart when their friend Alli disappears from a slumber party at the end of seventh grade. Each one seems to have drifted off into their own lives and is dealing with their own problems (and secrets) but is pulled together when they all begin to receive anonymous texts by someone who claims to know all their secrets and goes by “A”. After living in Iceland because of her father’s job (just after Alli went missing) Aria has returned with a fresh worldly perspective. Hannah has become the most popular girl in school. Spencer is the perfect overachiever that gets straight “A’s” and has only one person she competes with, her sister Melissa. Emily is the athlete who is going to college on a swimming scholarship who moved into Ali’s old house next door to Emily. All the girls are paranoid but don’t really trust each other since they have grown apart.

Critical Evaluation: The author has the main characters hide fairly controversial secretes in this book aside from the disappearance of Ali. The book is told in four parts, following each girl along her junior year and each one has a secret of their own. Hannah is battling with an eating disorder and the stress of these texts sends her into another downfall. Aria is having relations with a boy she met in a bar, Ezra,who turned out to be her English teacher. Spencer has a severe crush on her sister’s boyfriend and he has mutual feelings for her. Emily begins to explore unfamiliar feelings she has for a new friend who happens to be a girl. Shepard pushes the boundaries of age appropriate material for young adults but it is not anything new that teens have not seen of television or in school. The constant high school drama will keep readers engaged because they can easily relate.

Booktalking Ideas:
Have you ever kept a big secret from your good friends? How did it make you feel? Was it ever revealed?
Discuss how the girls can protect themselves from having their secrets revealed?
Who do you think “A” is?

Challenge Issues/ Defense:
Challenge Issues: Drugs, Alcohol, Language, Homosexuality, Sexual promiscuity.
Challenge defense ideas:
• 41%of parents say it gives kids positive messages 34%of parents say there are good role models 32%of parents say there’s too much drinking, drugs, or smoking 32%of parents say it has language their kids can’t use 27%of parents say the sexual behavior isn’t age appropriate. (Statistics from Common Sense Media. Retrieved from: http://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews/pretty-little-liars-1)

Why was this book included?: It is a popular television show with teenage girls. I wanted to see how the book varies.

Author Information: Sara Shepard’s first story ever, which she both wrote and illustrated, was about friendly yellow creatures that lived in a backyard garden. It won second prize at the State College, Pennsylvania, library, and was bound and placed on the shelf. (The binding was yellow. The book was called Quizzles. Maybe it’s still there!) Sara Shepard’s second story was about a five-legged camel named Lloyd and his band of friends journeying through the human circulatory system.
When Shepard was young, the things she wanted to be when she grew up were a soap opera star, a designer for LEGO, a Claymation artist, a geneticist, a fashion magazine editor, and, most of all, a writer. She grew up in Pennyslvania, on Philadelphia’s Main Line, and went to college at New York University in 1995, the height of the club kid era. While in college, she bought many pairs of purple vinyl pants, loud leather jackets, brightly colored club kid sneakers, and even a Day-Glo pacifier. After recovering from that unfortunate but short-lived phase, she had a series of jobs— interning at Elle magazine, filing important documents at J.P. Morgan, and writing and editing at Time Inc. At each of these jobs, she kept a separate folder on her computer of stories she wrote when she had free time. Eventually, she got an MFA at Brooklyn College, started receiving evil text messages from someone only known as A, nearly got run over by her best friend’s SUV, and kept thinking she saw dead people everywhere.
Actually, that last part didn’t happen. But Shepard did have all these ideas when preparing for her young adult series, Pretty Little Liars. It’s now five books strong—the sixth in the series, Killer, is out in June 2009. She’s also the author of an adult novel, The Visibles, which is out in May 2009, as well as the reluctant parent of three slobbery dogs. She and her sister, Alison, have also been creating many joint creative projects for years (Claymation movies, art installations, video game designs) based on a world they made up when they were 6 and 9 years old. They’re pretty sure they’re the only ones who find the world funny, though.
(Author biography obtained from Harper Collins website. Retrieved from: http://www.harpercollins.com/author/microsite/About.aspx?authorid=30521)

Little Brother by Corey Doctorow

Bibliographic Information: Doctorow, Corey. Little Brother. Tor Teen, 2008. ISBN 9780765319852

Genre: Science Fiction

Reading Level: Grades 7-12
Curriculum ties: Sociology, History. United States. Dept. of Homeland Security , Hackers, Terrorism, Dystopias, Teenage boys, Civil rights, Missing persons, Revenge, Electronic surveillance, Wire-tapping , Hacking, Civil disobedience, Totalitarianism, Counterculture.
Awards: Booklist Editors’ Choice – Books for Youth – Older Readers Category: 2008, John W. Campbell Memorial Award, New York Times Notable Books – Children’s Books: 2008, School Library Journal Best Books: 2008, Texas Tayshas Reading Lists: 2009, White Pine Award (Ontario), ALSA Best Books for Young Adults: 2009, YALSA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults: What if … (2011).
Note: Available by free download from: http://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/

Reader’s Annotation: Tired of being under constant surveillance by “Big Brother” Marcus (AKA: w1n5t0n) formulates plans to take revenge on the Department of Homeland Security.

Plot Summary: 17 year old Marcus’ love of a Alternative Reality Game (ARG) called Harijuku Fun Madness gets entices him and a few friends to skip school and obtain their next clue. While missing from their high security school, San Francisco is involved in a terrorist attack resulting in the entire city being shut down. In the panicked streets of San Francisco, Marcus and his three friends attempt to make it back to the safety of their school but are instead detained by the Department of Homeland Security as terrorist suspects. The gang is blindfolded, handcuffed and taken to a remote island for questioning. At first they refuse to cooperate but as time passes they give into their demands and are released. This experience fills Marcus with resentment and he decides to seek revenge against his oppressors. With the help of technology and a few new friends, Marcus is eager to expose who the real terrorists are.

Critical Evaluation:  Doctorow touches on many themes in this book surrounding technology but the two most recurrent are privacy and security. Throughout the book, Doctorow describes in depth different ways to bypass security measures imposed on us by the government. Marcus not only used new technology (signal jammers, Radio Frequency Identification (RFIDs) and The Onion Router (TOR) but also old technology (X-net and morse code).  By understanding how these technologies work, readers become better versed in how they can be used to breech our privacy and how we must take the responsibility for making our information more secure. The advocation to educating readers in all aspects of technology is important, not only for current issues but it also better prepares us for the future technical innovations. If we are not informed, then technology can and will be used against us and we will not be the wiser until it is too late.

Booktalking Ideas:
Discuss the presence of all the security measure at Cesar Chavez high school. Did this make the school more secure or did it represent a false sense of security.
2) Talk about the Marcus’ struggle with his parents’ view on the Department of Homeland Securities actions, especially his father’s. How did this evolve throughout the book?
3) Discuss and compare Marcus and Angie’s relationship to Marcus and Van’s relationship.
4) Discuss the importance of technology in your life and how secure you think your information is.
Challenge Issues/ Defense:
Challenge Issues: Terrorism, Hacking, Civil Disobedience

Challenge defense ideas:
• Little Brother is the 2009 Prometheus Award winner for best libertarian novel.
Doctorow’s grasp οf thе implications οf present-day information technology іѕ authoritative, аnd hіѕ prose features up-tο-thе-hour Internet-speak.
The politics of this book are decidedly left-wing. The Patriot Act and the Department of Homeland Security come in for some merciless beatings, but the reasoning behind such depictions is carefully laid out and form a clarion call to all Americans to look carefully at just what we are giving up in the name of `security’. Perhaps it should be compared and contrasted (as one of those infamous school assignments I don’t fondly remember) with something like Tom Clancy’s Executive Orders, which presents the right-wing rationale of why and when the government should be allowed to exceed the boundaries of the Constitution and its amendments. – Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)
Set in the all-to-near future, Little Brother presents a viable picture of government security gone too far. In a sense, I objected, of course our government wouldn’t behave in such a way! But Docotorow forces the reader to think about the incremental way the federal government has chiseled away at our freedoms since 9-11, and the vigor with which agencies from the FBI and DHS down to local law enforcement have embraced their expanded authority. I’m not sure how well I relate to the late-teen, early twenties gamer set who dominate Doctorow’s story, but I sure hope I end up on their side when this future happens. – Paul Mastin

Why was this book included?: For it’s nods to current and future technology as well as educating readers about privacy and security.
Author Information: Cory Doctorow (craphound.com) is a science fiction novelist, blogger and technology activist. He is the co-editor of the popular weblog Boing Boing (boingboing.net), and a contributor to The Guardian, the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, Wired, and many other newspapers, magazines and websites. He was formerly Director of European Affairs for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (eff.org), a non-profit civil liberties group that defends freedom in technology law, policy, standards and treaties. He is a Visiting Senior Lecturer at Open University (UK) and Scholar in Virtual Residence at the University of Waterloo (Canada); in 2007, he served as the Fulbright Chair at the Annenberg Center for Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California.
His novels are published by Tor Books and HarperCollins UK and simultaneously released on the Internet under Creative Commons licenses that encourage their re-use and sharing, a move that increases his sales by enlisting his readers to help promote his work. He has won the Locus and Sunburst Awards, and been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula and British Science Fiction Awards. His New York Times Bestseller LITTLE BROTHER was published in May 2008, a followup young adult novel called FOR THE WIN was published in 2010. His latest short story collection is WITH A LITTLE HELP, available in paperback, ebook, audiobook and limited edition hardcover. In 2008, Tachyon Books published a collection of his essays, called CONTENT: SELECTED ESSAYS ON TECHNOLOGY, CREATIVITY, COPYRIGHT AND THE FUTURE OF THE FUTURE (with an introduction by John Perry Barlow) and IDW published a collection of comic books inspired by his short fiction called CORY DOCTOROW’S FUTURISTIC TALES OF THE HERE AND NOW. His latest adult novel is MAKERS, published by Tor Books/HarperCollins UK in October, 2009.Little Brother is his first novel for young adults, and he hopes it’ll inspire you to use technology to make yourself more free.Doctorow, 36, lives in London, England with his wife and newborn daughter.
(Author information obtained from author website. Retrieved from: http://craphound.com/?page_id=1638)

Cut by Patricia McCormick

Bibliographic Information: McCormick, Patricia. Cur. Front Street, 2000. ISBN 9781886910614
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Reading Level: Grades 7-12
Curriculum ties: Sociology, Psychiatric clinics, Self-mutilation, Mental illness,Thirteen-year-old girls, Elective mutism.
Awards: YALSA Best Books for Young Adults: 2002, YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers: 2001

Reader’s Annotation: 15 year old Callie is sent to Sea Pines, a mental hospital, to get help for her “cutting” but gets help with much more.

Plot Summary: The protagonist is a 15 year old girl named Callie who believes she is responsible for her brother’s illness and begins to cut herself to relieve her inner frustrations and guilt. She is sent to the residential treatment facility called “Sea Pines” also known as “Sick Minds” where she passively listens to other teens battling issues such as anorexia, bulimia, compulsive eating and crack addiction. It is only when another self mutilating teen named Amanda comes to Sea Pines that Callie’s repressed emotions come flooding back. She blames herself for her little brother’s illness, severe asthma, although she really had nothing to do with it.  Her therapist, Dr. Bryant tries to get Callie to open up about this situation but she has taken to not talking. Too much to handle, Callie runs away from Sea Pines only to realize that she may be running from the only place that can truly help her.

Critical Evaluation:  Cut because it is a very real and vivid look at a teenage issue that was rarely written about: cutting. In this book McCormick gives a very sympathetic view of teenage thoughts as they embark on a journey through addiction self-discovery and recovery. When Callie reaches Sea Pines, or as the residents call it “Sick Minds”, she stops talking earning her the nickname “ST” silent treatment. She does not speak for the fear of letting everyone know how messed up she really is (in her opinion) and uses cutting as her cry for help a metaphor for Callie’s ability to understand herself. Only the reader has knowledge of Callie’s cutting and her secret self blame of her brother’s illness. By remaining silent, Callie believes that she is in control over her emotions even though she really wants to tell her story. As she observes others, she begins to find her true voice and commits to getting better. This is a great way to show readers they too can have the courage to have their voices heard.

Booktalking Ideas:
Discuss the significance of the relationship between Callie and Amanda, her father, Sam. 
2) Talk about why Callie first began to cut herself and the feelings associated with this. Did she want to get caught?
3) Discuss what made Callie begin to open up to Dr. Bryant.
4) Each member of the family changed during Callie’s stay at Sea Pines. Discuss their changes.

Challenge Issues/ Defense:

Challenge Issues:  Banned for  being too explicit for young teens.

Challenge defense ideas:
Libraries must meet the diverse needs of everyone in their communities. They cannot overrule the rights and responsibilities of individuals by deciding who does or doesn’t have access to library materials. Most libraries provide movie reviews and ratings for parents to use these in guiding their children’s library use.
Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.
ALA Library Bill of Rights
•”First-timer McCormick tackles a side of mental illness that is rarely seen in young-adult literature in a believable and sensitive manner. ! A thoughtful look at teenage mental illness and recovery.”– Kirkus
“Refusing to sensationalize her subject matter, McCormick steers past the confines of the problem-novel genre with her persuasive view of the teenage experience.”–Publishers Weekly, starred review

Why was this book included?: Many teens will relate to Callie’s internal monologue and understand that there is help and they are not alone.

Author Information:
Patricia McCormick is a journalist and writer. She graduated from Rosemont College in 1978, followed by an M.S. from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1986 and an M.F.A. from New School University in 1999.  Her first novel for teens was Cut, about a young woman who self-injures herself.  This was followed by My Brother’s Keeper in 2005, about a boy struggling with his brother’s addiction and Sold in 2006.  Her awards include the American Library Association Best Book of the Year, New York Public Library Best Book for the Teenaged and the Children’s Literature Council’s Choice.

She has written for The New York Times, Parents Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, Ladies Home Journal, Town & Country, More, Reader’s Digest, Mademoiselle and other publications and has been an adjunct professor of journalism at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and an instructor of creative writing at the New School University.   She lives in New York with two children, a husband and two cats.

(Author biography by Book Browse. Retrieved from: http://www.bookbrowse.com/biographies/index.cfm?author_number=1375).