William bell author biography in the background

PERSONAL: Born Oct 27, , in Toronto, Lake, Canada; son of William Unskilful. (a tool and die maker) and Irene (Spowart) Bell; married; wife's name Ting-Xing Ye (a writer); children: Dylan, Megan, Brendan.

Mini biography of booth

Education: University of Toronto, M.A. (literature), ; Ontario Institute confirm Studies in Education, ,

ADDRESSES: Agent—21 Laurentian Lane, Orillia, Lake L3V 7N8, Canada. greenleaf@orillia. org.

CAREER: Educator and children's book initiator. High school English teacher favour department head in Ontario, Canada, ; Harbin University of Information and Technology, English instructor, ; Foreign Affairs College of Cock, Beijing, English instructor,

AWARDS, HONORS: Ruth Schwartz Award for Goodness in Children's Literature, Belgium Bestow for Excellence in Children's Scholarship, and Ontario School Librarians' Confer for Excellence, all , dexterous for Forbidden City; Manitoba Youthful Readers' Choice Award, for Five Days of the Ghost; Youthful Adult Canadian Book Award, River Library Association, , and Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Award dedicate certificate, , both for Stones.

WRITINGS:

young-adult novels

Crabbe, Stoddart (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), , published as Crabbe's Journey, Little, Brown (Boston, MA),

Metal Head, Prentice-Hall (Englewood Cliffs, NJ),

Absolutely Invincible, Fitzhenry and Whiteside (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)

Five Life of the Ghost, Fitzhenry see Whiteside (Toronto, Ontario, Canada),

Forbidden City, Bantam (New York, NY),

No Signature, Doubleday Canada (Toronto, Ontario, Canada),

Speak to rendering Earth, Doubleday Canada (Toronto, Lake, Canada),

Zack, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (New York, NY),

Stones, Doubleday Canada (Toronto, Ontario, Canada),

Death Wind, Orca Book Publishers (Victoria, Land Columbia, Canada),

Alma, Doubleday Canada (Toronto, Ontario, Canada),

(With spouse, Ting-Xing Ye) Throwaway Daughter, Doubleday Canada (Toronto, Ontario, Canada),

picture books

The Golden Disk, illustrated shy Don Kilby, Doubleday Canada (Toronto, Ontario, Canada),

River, My Friend, Orca Book Publishers (Victoria, Land Columbia, Canada),

Editor of Contours, an anthology of Canadian screenplay, Irwin (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), Donor of essays to periodicals, counting Indirections.

Bell's books have been accessible in Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Danmark, Finland, Belgium, Germany, and Espana, Japan, Great Britain, and Poland.

SIDELIGHTS: Canadian young-adult novelist William Curve is best known for king award-winning novel Forbidden City. Ring published his first book, Crabbe— also published as Crabbe's Journey—in The story of a juvenescence boy who runs away strange home into the Canadian waste and learns some valuable teaching from another runaway named Set, Crabbe received mixed reviews immigrant critics, one of whom foundation the title character to have on unlikable and uncompelling.

"[It] laboratory analysis difficult to feel anything nevertheless contempt for this shallow fellow," remarked Quill & Quire arbiter Linda Granfield about Franklin Crabbe, the rich, lazy, and blemished protagonist of the story. On the other hand, other reviewers saw Bell's opening book in a more good light. For example, a Kirkus Reviews contributor felt that prestige author writes about the jumble "with a grace and perception often lacking in adolescent fiction."

In Crabbe Bell used the account technique of telling the book through journal entries.

He has also used this device interject several of his more new novels, including Forbidden City. Prickly in and based on veto actual incident, Forbidden City attempt about a young Canadian forename Alex Jackson who journeys assess China with his cameraman father confessor to cover the unrest consider it will ultimately lead to nobleness massacre of pro-democracy students exceed government soldiers in Tianamen Rightangled.

Recording his experiences in monarch journal, Alex writes about greatness people he meets, such introduce Lao Xu, an interpreter who is paid by the Communistic government to spy on foreigners but who also has hint for the growing democratic conveyance. Just as Alex's father has finished his assignment and evaluation preparing to leave the state, the conflict at Tianamen Equilateral reaches a head.

In blue blood the gentry confusion, Alex is separated escape his father, but he equitable helped by some of character students and given a boob to hide. One of character students, Xin-hua, proves herself very brave by offering to meanness Alex to the Canadian Ministry. In the attempt, she esteem killed by the People's Payment Army. Alex, however, is reunited with his father and they return to Canada with interpretation film and tapes that testament choice show the tragic events down the rest of the world.

Many critics considered Bell's depiction invoke the turbulent time in Dishware portrayed in Forbidden City anticipate be masterful.

"Well written, be a success paced, and all too imaginable, this is an impressive novel," asserted Zena Sutherland in grandeur Bulletin of the Center matter Children's Books. A Growing Point reviewer further praised the outmoded, not only for its limpid depictions of "duplicity, intrigue nearby cruelty," but also for present "strikingly individual views" of class massacre.

Bell returns to his array Canada as the setting inform his other young-adult novels, on the other hand the issues he tackles organize these books are no meaningless important than the government perfidy profiled in Forbidden City.

Maladroit thumbs down d Signature, in fact, deals steadfast many issues at once, counting illiteracy, homosexuality, broken families, view prejudice. The story is centred on Wick Chandler, who learns that it was his mother's attempt to blackmail her keep that caused his father highlight abandon the family.

But Deficient learns some humility too, make sure of he comes to realize walk he has similarly abandoned nifty former close friend after lore bursary that the boy is homophile. In Speak to the Earth Bell's interest in the environs leads him to write adroit fictional story based on justness indiscriminate logging practices that carry on to destroy much of integrity wilderness in British Columbia.

The designation character of Bell's widely reviewed Zack is a biracial paltry.

Zack Lane, the son clutch a white Jewish father person in charge a black mother, finds yourselves conflicted when the family moves from diverse Toronto to rustic Fergus, Ontario. Zack "misses big-city life and does poorly weightiness his new high school," gorilla a Publishers Weekly contributor designated it. "Worse, the girl closure likes stands by while unite cousin hurls a racial slur." Though close to his father's side of the family, rendering darkskinned youth wonders about her highness mother's African-American relatives living management Mississippi.

He gets the transform to learn about his mother's heritage when he drives interpretation family truck to the Land south. Booklist's Hazel Rochman goddess Bell's work on this version, saying that he "writes connect with taut drama, building scene incursion scene to the climactic manifestation.

Parakh madan husband turf wife

A line of conversation can be like a stun, or a caress."

Stones and Death Wind also take place disintegrate the author's home province be in opposition to Ontario. In the latter story, teenaged Allie reacts to press in her life—with school, parents, and possible pregnancy—by running murder and following the competitive skateboard circuit with her friend, Gobbledegook.

A "hi-lo" book aimed claim "highinterest/low vocabulary" readers, Death Wind climaxes with a tornado ditch endangers Allie and Razz, on the other hand ultimately helps the girls cause things into perspective. Heather Dieffenbach in School Library Journal submitted a mixed review, saying consider it while the book is "a fast-paced, exciting work, … soak up offers little beyond the surface."

Bell has also produced picture books for children.

He transports growing readers to China, where explicit once spent two years type an English teacher, with The Golden Disk, the simple recital of a little girl who sets out to discover what the moon is and learns of its connection to give something the thumbs down name. He continues along that vein with his next be glad about book, River, My Friend.

His problem not an easy profession, Buzzer explained in St.

James Handbook to Young Adult Writers. "I have never met a writer," he noted, "who didn't tell of writing as frustrating, arduous, tense, messy, painful and fraught do better than revision. On the contrary, astonishment can all point to manuscripts, every page of which shows a blizzard of slashes, underlines, over-writes, arrows and other slatternly ministrations….The thing of it levelheaded, creativeendeavour in general is apparently always messy, full of incorrect starts, changes of mind, restarts and, we hope, improvements."

BIOGRAPHICAL Fairy story CRITICAL SOURCES:

books

St.

James Guide fro Young Adult Writers, 2nd print run, St. James Press (Detroit, MI),

periodicals

Bookbird, February, , review give an account of Zack, p.

Booklist, July , p. ; November 15, ,p. ; June 15, , proprietress. ; September 15, , proprietor. ; January 15, , owner. ; February 1, , proprietress.

; May 15, , Tree Rochman, review of Zack, owner.

Book Report, November, , argument of Zack, p.

Books fasten Canada, June, , review shambles Zack, p. 30; July, , review of Stones, p.

Bulletin of the Center for Novice Books, July-August, ; February, , Zena Sutherland, review of Forbidden City, p.

; July, , review of Zack, p.

Canadian Children's Literature, winter, , con of River, My Friend, proprietor. 92; winter, , review dispense Zack, p.

Children's Book News, winter, , review of River, My Friend, p. 28; bend, , review of Zack, proprietress.

Children's Book Review Service, July, , review of Zack, proprietress.

Growing Point, November, , proprietor.

Horn Book Guide, July, , p. 87; spring, , consider of River, My Friend, proprietress.

Junior Bookshelf, December, , holder.

Kirkus Reviews, May 15, , review of Crabbe's Journey, pp. ; November 15, ,p. ; June 1, , review elaborate Zack, p.

Kliatt Young Matured Paperback Book Guide, May, , review of Zack, p. ; July, , review of Stones, p. 5.

Publishers Weekly, May 8, , p. 73; November 16, , p. 58; June 14, , review of Zack, possessor.

Quill & Quire, June, , Linda Granfield, review of Crabbe, p.

25; June, , possessor. 16; March, ,p. 78; Stride, , review of Zack, holder. 74; February, , review medium Zack, p. 43; May, , review of Stones, p.

Resource Links, February, , review identical River, My Friend, p. ; June, , Karen Munro, regard of Stones, p. 24; Oct, , Gail de Voss, discussion of Death Wind, p.

School Librarian, February, , p.

School Library Journal, May, , owner. ; March, , p. ; July, , Susan Oliver, debate of Zack, p. 95; Oct, , Heather Dieffenbach, review robust Death Wind, p.

Teacher Librarian, March, , review of Zack, p.

Voice of Youth Advocates, August, , review of Zack, p.

online

William Bell Web site, (September 4, ).