Author Spotlight #1: Sarah Dessen

Dear Readers,

The semester is over and I am happy to report I can start blogging more. I have decided to start a new segment of this blog called Author Spotlight. This is where I talk about certain authors and who they are, what they write, why I like them, and what are some of my favorite books by them. The first spotlight is about Young Adult book writer, Sarah Dessen.

Sarah Dessen is a young adult novelist who has written about 10 novels for young adults all featuring young female protagonists. The books usually feature teenage girls living in a small town and romance, friendship, and family relationships that occur during that time in their lives. The books usually also feature heavy themes such as violence, drugs, drinking, teen pregnancy, rape, etc.

What I really love about Sarah Dessen is the way she writes her characters .She writes them in ways that are not only relatable to our real world society, but also writes the characters as 3-dimensional and not perfect. A lot of times you see either the girl protagonist in the book be "saved by the boy" or the boy meets this perfect girl that saves him or the girl and boy ride off into the sunset together and get a happy ever after ( okay well things sort of like that do happen occasionally in a few of her books, but not always or exactly like that). Some of the relationships do take realistic turns like break ups or not being together due to one half of the couple is not good for the other and it is acknowledged ( like in her book Dreamland). I think Sarah also goes a good job of writing books that do not just talk about love between a couple, but love between family, friends, a dream,etc. The theme of love goes beyond a romantic relationship and that is acknowledged and addressed greatly in all her books. Sarah Dessen is a treasure of an author who goes above and beyond the stereotypical teen love story.

Some of my favorite books by Sarah are:

1. Dreamland
2. Someone Like You
3. Just Listen
4. Along For the Ride
5. That Summer

I have not read all of Sarah's book but I hope to do so soon. I also plan to try to write more blog post so stay tuned :)

- Jessica