The Underneath, Appelt's debut novel, is a National Book Award finalist, an ALA Newbery Medal winner, and an ALA Newbery Honor Book.
Appelt writes childrens books as well as books suited for teenagers, and is a member of the faculty at Vermont College's Master of Fine Arts program and occasionally teaches creative writing at Texas A&M University.
One book from her entry:
The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy, by Robert Leleux.Writers Read: Kathi Appelt.
The title of this funny, bittersweet, and ultimately heartwarming book tells it all. Leleux looks at beauty from the outside in and inside out, not only physical beauty, but inner beauty as well. In the process, he exposes both beauty and ugliness in all their various forms. He begins his story with the departure of his father, who leaves him with his very southern and gentrified mother. How the two of them manage to survive without the resources to which they've become accustomed is a tale filled with tension, loss, self-discovery and laughter. Robert Leleux is beautiful. No doubt about it. I loved this book.[read on]
Visit Kathi Appelt's website.
--Marshal Zeringue