M.E. KERR
Born Marijane Meaker on
May 27, 1927 in Auburn,
Long Island, New York.
Her mother’s name was
Ida, and her father,
Ellis R. Meaker, was a
mayonnaise manufacturer.
Author’s life and style…
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High school at Stuart Hall in Virginia, a boarding
school
Vermont Junior College (1945)
University of Missouri (1946-49), majored in English
literature
After graduating, moved to New York with college
friends and found jobs at a publishing firms.
Sold her first piece of fiction and established a
career as a writer
Author’s life and style…
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Memories of her youth…her antics growing up in
upstate New York - life with her parents and two
brothers, her escapades with her friends platonic and romantic
Experiences at boarding school and being part
of a sorority
Marijane was always in trouble, always the
outsider, always looking for ways to express her
voice, her identity
Primary relationship issues
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Parents-siblings
Student-teacher
Peer-friend
Romance-first loves in general
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Themes are serious ones, but Kerr can’t help but
inject humor into her writing
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Perspective is always fresh and unique
“the underdog…the outlaw
character, the misfit”
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Tolerance, prejudice, denial / acceptance of
people with different backgrounds, beliefs,
lifestyles and socio-economic status
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“I was aware of social class ever since… I
went off to boarding school thinking I was rich”
until she met children of heads of international
corporations. “I was very, very surprised, and
have always since paid attention to the haves
and have-nots.”
Gentlehands (1978)
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Young love
Buddy takes
sophisticated Skye to
visit his handsome,
aristocratic grandfather
Rumor that
“Gentlehands”, a Nazi
war criminal, is in town
Good and evil
Awards for Gentlehands
Best
of the Best Books 1966-1992, ALA
Best Books for Young Adults, 1978, ALA
ALA Notable Children's Books of 1978
Best Children's Books of 1978, School Library Journal
Winner, 1978 Christopher Award
Best Children's Books of 1978, New York Times
Cited for Margaret A. Edwards Award, 1993
Overseas Titles
Sanfthand
(German)
Fluwelen Vingers (Dutch)
Sexuality and sexual orientation
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are topics touched upon and explored in
varying degrees of detail though never
explicitly
Kerr has a way with words that is neither
embarrassing nor patronizing when it comes
to the subject of hormonal urges and desires
Deliver Us From Evie (1994)
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Sexual orientation
Farm life in a small
town
Parents
Siblings
Identity
Moving on
Deliver Us from Evie
awards & honors
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1995 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA)
1995 Recommended Books for Reluctant
Young Adult Readers (ALA)
1995 Fanfare Honor List (The Horn Book)
1995 Books for the Teen Age (NY Public
Library)
1994 Best Book Honor Award (Michigan
Library Association)
VOYA survey, 2000: Best Young Adult Novels
of the ’90’s, top 12 --National Council of English Teachers’
Assembly on Literature of Adolescents
YA responses to
“Deliver Us From Evie”
From: Jessie
Submitted: Monday, December 22, 2003
I just wanted to voice how much I loved
Deliver Us From Evie. I read it my
sophomore year, as it was the only lesbianthemed book I could find in our school
library.
I can't even begin to say how much it meant
to me to be able to identify with this book....
I loved that the parents were
understanding...They acted the way most
parents would...Trying to be supportive at
times, yet dissaproving and not quite being
able to understand.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for
writing this book.
FROM ANONYMOUS:
I found deliver us from evie when i was 11 i
think it was the first young adult book i
read with a gay or lesbian character in it.
later the book along with some others
helped me realize more that i was not the
only gay or questioning teen out there.
it's reassuring to find a book with gay
characters that are not portrayed as bad or
doomed. just wanted to tell M.E. Kerr
thanks for writing.
i still go back and read parts of deliver us
from evie when i don't feel all that great
about myself.
http://www.mekerr.com/
Mysteries
FELL (1987)
FELL BACK (1989)
FELL DOWN (1991)
Boarding school
Secret societies
Social class
Ventriloquism, or
(cultivating a separate
voice)
Realistic fiction
NIGHT KITES
(1986)
LITTLE LITTLE
(1981)
Family conflicts
Brothers
AIDS
Friendships
Romance
Career choices
Dwarfism
Class differences
Physical differences
Societal expectations
“HELLO,” I LIED
(1997)
Homosexuality
Bisexuality
Rock Music
Religion, Religious Differences
Him She Loves? (1984)
Henry Schiller, 16, his family's move
to Long Island and their new
German restaurant.
Valerie Kissenwiser who is Jewish
(he is not) and whose father forbids
their dating.
What I Really Think of You (1983)
Daughter of a Pentacostal preacher
Son of a television Evangelist
Historical fiction
Slap Your Sides (2001)
1939-1942
Conscientious objectors
Friendships, family
Brothers
Your Eyes in Stars (2006)
1933-1935
City and town life in NYC
Racism
Patriotism
Prisons & prisoners
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"When I think of myself
and what I would have
liked to have found in
books those many years
ago, I remember being
depressed by all the neatly
tied-up, happy-ending
stories, the abundance of
winners, the themes of
winning, solving, finding when around me it didn't
seem that easy.”
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“So I write with a
different feeling when
I write for young
adults. I guess I write
for myself at that
age."
“I always wanted to be a writer. I think it was the combination
of my father’s reading and my mother’s gossiping. She began
every conversation with ‘Wait until you hear this…’ I would
have listened to my mother than a soap opera because she
made the small town so alive for me.”
M.E. Kerr
1998
“When I write for young adults…
I know they’re still wrestling with very important
problems …not feeling accepted… prejudice, love — all
the things adults ultimately get hardened to, and
forgetful of. I know my audience hasn’t yet made up
their minds about everything, that they’re still vulnerable
and open to suggestion and able to change their
minds…Give me that kind of an audience any day!”
Kerr and Michelle Koh,
webmaster www.mekerr.com
2004
M.E. KERR
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In 1993, Marijane Meaker received the ALA’s
Margaret A. Edwards Award for her lifetime
achievement in writing for young adults
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Ashawagh Hall, where M. E. Kerr teaches
classes in writing