 | The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books: True Blue |
| Each month we offer a focus on a particular author or artist. Sometimes we use this space to discuss a rising new talent or an established star, but we also like to celebrate those who now live on only in the rich legacy of their books..
See the archive for focus pieces from previous
months. | |
| | Robin McKinley |
"I hope some of my doings-over [of fairy tales and other stories] may
inspire more girls, both young and grown-up, to do more things they want
to do and haven't been quite sure they dared; and more boys not to think
it odd that they [girls] should want to do them."
--Robin McKinley (Newbery Award Acceptance speech)
Robin McKinley's books feature the sorts of heroines she wanted but couldn't find in the fantasy and adventure novels of her youth. Her women have a solid presence despite their folkloric origins and fantastical settings; they leap from the pages of fairytales and land firmly on their own two feet, leaving behind any semblance of passivity. Her young women are warriors, by choice or chance, whose rites of passage lead them into the (literary) hall of heroes. The author's language is elaborately embroidered with sensual images, and the multiple layers of her prose have an almost physical presence and effect. McKinley's images are intoxicating in their passionate specificity, each image linked tendril-like to the others within ornate constructions.
--Janice M. Del Negro, Editor
Robin McKinley's Official Homepage
http://www.sff.net/people/robin-mckinley/
Novels (In order of publication):
This page was last updated on February 1, 2001.