Sunday, January 23, 2011

What is Shawn Goodman reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Shawn Goodman, author of Something Like Hope.

His entry begins:
I am in the middle of what might be my favorite read of the year: Soon I Will Be Invincible, by Austin Grossman. This book is so intelligent and fun that I can't stop pushing it on people. It's your basic superhero storyline, but it's perfectly wrapped in pulpy comic book cliches, and told from the alternating points of view of Dr. Impossible, the world's leading supervillain, and Fatale, a six-foot-three cybernetically enhanced woman with serious self-esteem issues.

What sets this book apart is Grossman's...[read on]
Among the early praise for Something Like Hope:
"Shawn Goodman’s Something Like Hope will break your heart, then slowly piece it back together in a new and profound way. You will not forget this book."
--Matt Delapena, author of Ball Don’t Lie

“Shavonne’s voice—witty, tender, explicit, and tough—will grab readers. In the tradition of Walter Dean Myers’ and Jacqueline Woodson’s novels, this winner of Delacorte’s 2009 prize for best YA debut gets behind the statistics to tell it like it is.”
--Booklist

“Debut novelist Goodman…delivers a gritty, frank tale that doesn't shrink from the harshness of the setting but that also provides a much-needed redemption for both Shavonne and readers.”
--Kirkus

“Those teens who applauded the urban survivors in Sapphire’s Push and Coe Booth’s Tyrell will do the same for Shavonne.”
--School Library Journal

“Goodman…paints a searing picture of a girl who slowly begins to claim the life long stolen from her.”
--Publishers Weekly
Shawn Goodman is a writer and school psychologist. His experiences working in several New York State juvenile detention facilities inspired Something Like Hope. He has been an outspoken advocate for juvenile justice reform, and has written and lectured on issues related to special education, foster care, and literacy.

Visit Shawn Goodman's website.

Writers Read: Shawn Goodman.

--Marshal Zeringue