Kerry Madden's debut
children's novel, Gentle's Holler,
(Viking, 2005) was released in Penguin Puffin paperback in 2007,
received starred reviews in both Kirkus and Publisher's Weekly, and is
the first in a trilogy of Smoky
Mountain novels. Gentle's
Holler was a New York and Chicago Public Library Pick, a Bank
Street College Book of the Year, and received a Mark Twain Nomination
from Missouri, a Maine Student Book Award, a Young Hoosiers Nominee
from Indiana, a Battle of the Books (BOB) from North Carolina, and was
a finalist in Children's Literature for PEN. Louisiana's Song (SCIBA
and CYBILS Award Finalist) was published in 2007 and has been selected
for the California Readers Collection for Middle Grade Fiction and a
Bank Street College Book of the Year. Jessie's
Mountain was published in 2008 by Viking. Madden is currently
working on a biography of Harper Lee for teens for Viking's UpClose
Series. She is also the author of Offsides,
New York Public Library Pick for the Teenage in 1997 and Writing Smarts
(American Girl Library, 2002) and a frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Times. She conducts
writing workshops for kids of all ages across the country. She may be
reached at www.kerrymadden.com.