Author Focus: Avi

Avi writes varied works for children and teens that can be enjoyed by adults, too.

My introduction to the young-adult novelist Avi was an ignominious one. The day I started a long-term substitute-teaching position in 2012, I was handed the book Nothing But the Truth, an infuriating story about a dishonest boy and the teacher whose career he ruined with one lie. At one point while reading it, I wanted to throw the thing across the room! So, you'd think I'd never want to touch this writer's work again.

But I was intrigued by Avi's style and tempted when I encountered another of his books, Who Stole the Wizard of Oz?, which turned out to be a lot more fun. Because I was building a collection of juvenile and young-adult books for my own classroom library (for when I got my own classroom), I wanted to have works I could recommend to my students because I'd read them myself. And I constantly gravitated toward Avi.

It's hard to describe Avi's style, especially because he would tell you himself, "Writers don't write writing, they write reading." And it's true that nothing gets in the way of the story in his works, which cover a broad array of genres. It's been said that a novelist should concentrate on one genre if s/he wants to have a reliable readership, but Avi doesn't bother with that, choosing instead to write suspense, comedy, fantasy, historical, and contemporary teen stories.

When he writes in a particular genre, he really gets into the feel of it without adjusting his style. Traitors' Gate is very much in the vein of Charles Dickens. Perloo the Bold is a wonderful animal fantasy that I'd love to adapt as an animated film. With Don't You Know There's a War On?, I could almost hear the Jazz music playing on the 1940s radio. And The School of the Dead was really creepy; Avi is as good as R.L. Stine at suspense and horror.

Even though I'm no longer a teacher, I still read Avi. Is that weird? I don't care; his books are a lot of fun. I can lose myself in a good story of kids in different time periods, and it still works for a grown-up like me, because Avi never talks down to his reader. He's very serious about his writing, and that comes through loud and clear.

Check out Avi's website, which includes an excellent blog!

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