Authors Pick Five: Beverly Patt

I've asked Beverly Patt, author of Haven, to participate in Authors Pick Five and pick five books most important or influential to her. Since I'd mentioned that her book, which I had just read made me weep a bit, she decided to use that as a starting point for a "theme" for the five picks she choose. She says:

I will go with the books that either made me weep (hard to do! I'm tough!) or laugh out loud, two things I aim for in my writing. I frequently go back to these books to try to figure out, "How'd they DO that?"

They are, in no particular order,

A Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (many tears shed)

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (sobbed in PUBLIC. Lord. Also laughed)

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech (tons of laughter, weeping at end)

Greetings from Nowhere by Barbara O'Conner (amazing how this was so simply told but still made me well up)

The Watsons Go To Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis (another perfect mixture of humor and heart:)

(and a bonus choice): Holes by Louis Sachar (Ok, no weeping here but very funny and very quirky. I love quirky.)

Coming up in April, Bev will have another book published, this one called:Best Friends Forever: A WWII Scrapbook. Here's how she describes it: "It's the story of two friends who get separated by the war- one stays on the 'home front' near Seattle and the other gets sent to a Japanese internment camp. It's done in scrapbook style with photos, sketches, letters and 1940s memorabilia." Sounds wonderful, don't you think?

For more on Beverly Patt, including teacher guides, book club guides and even recipes, be sure to check out her official website.