Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, recipient of the National Humanities Medal, and author of the classic The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, Ernest J. Gaines is one of America's most respected authors. But when he was a young boy, the possibility of having such a career would have been nearly unimaginable. Gaines was the son of African-American sharecroppers whose family had worked on the same Louisiana plantation since slavery.Yet, Gaines somehow carved out a career as an acclaimed writer.
Edgar Allan Poe not only wrote such dark and uncanny works as "The Raven," "The Tell-Tale Heart," and "The Fall of the House of Usher," but also lived a tragic and similarly gloomy life. Credited as the father of the modern horror story and the first detective novel, Poe still inspires legions of fans to this day.
Alice Norton was a college freshman when the Great Depression left her unable to afford her tuition. Forced to quit school, she did not give up her dreams. While working at a library, Norton wrote a novel inspired by a patron, The Prince Commands, which was published in her early 20s. Because the publisher doubted boys would buy an adventure story written by a woman, Alice Norton changed her name to the masculine "Andre Norton." Norton found her passion, writing more than 100 science fiction and fantasy novels, many for young adults.
Thinking and Writing in College: A Naturalistic Study of Students in Four Disciplines
This groundbreaking book reports the results of a seven-year study in which six teacher researchers worked together to inquire into the thinking and writing of college students. The study offers a model of collaborative, naturalistic classroom research that not only allowed the investigators to investigate how students thought and wrote, but also to reflect on teacher growth and change over the course of the study.
