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WORK TITLE: SQUIRREL ON STAGE
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WEBSITE: http://www.vivianvandevelde.com/
CITY: Rochester
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COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: SATA 339
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Kirkus Reviews Nov. 1, 2022, review of Vande Velde, Vivian: SQUIRREL ON STAGE. p. NA.
Kirkus Reviews Jan. 15, 2019, , “Vande Velde, Vivian: SQUIRREL IN THE MUSEUM.”.
Yes, Vivian Vande Velde is my real name.
To hear me pronounce it, you can go to the Author Name Pronunciation Guide at TeachingBooks.net by clicking here.
I became a writer because I love stories--all kinds of stories, but especially fantasy. I can't remember a time before I wanted to be a writer. My parents did a great job of convincing me I could do whatever I set my mind to.
my parents
I was born in 1951 and have lived almost my entire life in Rochester, New York.
I married Jim Vande Velde. (So, yes, Vivian Vande Velde is my real name.) When our daughter Beth was born, I quit my job as a secretary. Since I was home all day, I had to either take housework more seriously or come up with a good excuse why I couldn't. So this was the point where I had to stop saying "Someday I'm going to be a writer," and do something about it.
The first book I wrote was A Hidden Magic.
Writing turned out to be harder work than I thought it would be. (To read more about writing, go to the WRITING ADVICE page.)
But, once I finished writing the book, getting it published was even harder. I sent it out to 32 different publishers over a two-year period, before number 33 said yes.
So, if you're interested in seeing your stories become books, keep in mind that lots of people heard "no" from publishers before they heard "yes"--including:
Dr. Seuss
Edgar Allen Poe
Stephen King
Madeline L'Engle
J.K. Rowling
Writing can be easier if you have the support of other writers. Luckily for me, there are a lot of children's writers in the Rochester area. I belong to two groups, each with wonderful people who help each other by asking gentle questions (What is it, exactly, dear, that you're trying to say here?) and who offer encouragement and advice to each other. And besides that, they're a lot of fun.
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Vivian Vande Velde
Born 1951
Rochester, New York, U.S.
Occupation Writer
Genre Children's literature, speculative fiction
Vivian Vande Velde (born 1951) is an American writer of fiction for children and young adults.
Biography
Vivian Vande Velde was born in Rochester, New York, United States. She began writing at age 28, the year her daughter was born,[1] and has been publishing relatively consistently since. She resides in Rochester.[when?] She is involved in multiple circles/groups of young writers in the Rochester area,[2] along with authors such as Bruce Coville and Cynthia DeFelice.
Her novels and short story collections usually contain elements of horror, fantasy, and humor. Her book Never Trust a Dead Man (1999) received the 2000 Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Novel. She has said that she enjoys writing for children.[citation needed] She does school talks for children, attends book conventions, and also gives writing classes. One of her short stories was included in Gothic! Ten Original Dark Tales.
Bibliography
Once Upon A Test: Three Light Tales of Love (1984)
A Hidden Magic (1985)
A Well-Timed Enchantment (1990)
User Unfriendly (1991)
Dragon's Bait (1992)
Tales from the Brothers Grimm and the Sisters Weird (1995)
Companions of the Night (1995)
Curses, Inc. and Other Stories (1996)
The Conjurer Princess (1997)
The Changeling Prince(1998)
Smart Dog (1998)
Ghost Of A Hanged Man (1998)
A Coming Evil (1998)
There's a Dead Person Following My Sister Around (1999)
Never Trust a Dead Man (1999)
Magic Can Be Murder (2000)
Troll Teacher (2000)
The Rumpelstiltskin Problem (2001)
Alison, Who Went Away (2001)
Being Dead (2001)
Heir Apparent (2002)
Wizard at Work (2003)
Witch's Wishes (2003)
Three Good Deeds (2005)
Now You See It... (2005)
The Book of Mordred (2005)
Witch Dreams (2005)
All Hallows' Eve (2006)
Remembering Raquel (2007)
Stolen (2008)
Cloaked in Red (2010)
8 Class Pets + 1 Squirrel / (divided by) 1 Dog = Chaos (2011)
Deadly Pink (2012)
Frogged (2013)
23 Minutes (2016)
Squirrel in the House (2016)
The Princess Imposter (2017)
The Prince Problem (2018)
Squirrel in the Museum (2019)
Vivian Vande Velde mostly writes books set “long ago and far away,” because that’s the kind of story she’s always enjoyed most. In addition to novels, Vande Velde also writes short fiction, which has appeared in many anthologies and publications, including Cricket Magazine, Aboriginal Science Fiction, and Asimov’s Science Fiction. She is the author of Magic Can Be Murder and There’s a Dead Person Following My Sister Around.
Vande Velde, Vivian SQUIRREL ON STAGE Holiday House (Children's None) $16.99 10, 25 ISBN: 978-0-8234-5215-6
"Cinderella" has never been so squirrelly.
Twitch, a squirrel who lives in the trees near a school, is back for another adventure, this time upon the stage! Visiting his friend Sweetie, the school library's pet albino rat, one evening, Twitch learns that the students will be staging a theatrical version of "Cinderella." Sweetie has a certain fondness for this story, because the fairy godmother selects a rat to drive the pumpkin coach. Twitch decides that his friend mustsee the show and hatches a plan (sort of) for the nearsighted rat to be close enough to enjoy the spectacle. Unsurprisingly, the duo's adventure doesn't go by the fairy-tale book, and while Sweetie becomes a little more involved in the onstage antics than he anticipated, Twitch finds a nemesis of sorts in Miss Krause, the school librarian and the play's director. Readers who know Twitch from his previous stories are in for a side-splitting new adventure, and those unfamiliar will want to seek out his other stories. Alternating chapters between Twitch's and Sweetie's points of view allows both characters to develop fully and shine. Sweetie's vision issues are a good reminder that people (and rats) with different abilities all deserve starring roles. Scribbly, expressive black-and-white illustrations depict a diverse student body. An afterword from all the school's various classroom pets and a Q&A with the author provide additional insights for book clubs and classroom discussion.
Readers will go nuts (mostly acorns) for this book! (Fiction. 7-10)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Vande Velde, Vivian: SQUIRREL ON STAGE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Nov. 2022, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A724445448/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=2b75a497. Accessed 17 Mar. 2023.
Vande Velde, Vivian SQUIRREL IN THE MUSEUM Holiday House (Children's Fiction) $15.99 3, 19 ISBN: 978-0-8234-4167-9
Schoolyard squirrel Twitch has scientific questions but no answers, so he joins a class trip to the Galileo Museum and Science Center.
Stowing away on the school bus is just the first of Twitch's adventures on this field trip, all breathlessly recounted in a first-person, present-tense narration that exposes his squirrel-centered understanding of the world. Chapter-book readers will both recognize his quirks, including his preoccupation with food, and enjoy a sense of superiority in their wider understanding. For this third title in a series that began with 8 Class Pets + 1 Squirrel |1 Dog = Chaos (2011), the author-illustrator pair have perfected their formula for entertainment--a limited perspective, slapstick humor, and nonstop action. Twitch is protected inside the museum by a white boy who uses a wheelchair, often shown among his racially diverse classmates in Bjorkman's amusing sketches. Other images show Twitch atop an astonished girl's head, scaring her more than the animatronic T. Rex behind her; Twitch wreaking havoc in the museum's gift shop; driving a model Mars rover; and flying over a Bernoulli air pressure table. Framed by conversations with science lab geckos Galileo and Newton (among the narrators in the first book), these Twitch episodes stand alone but will certainly lead readers and listeners to look for more.
This field trip to remember will appeal to eager chapter-book readers, fans of talking-animal stories, and teachers looking for an engaging read-aloud. (Fiction. 7-10)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Vande Velde, Vivian: SQUIRREL IN THE MUSEUM." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Jan. 2019. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A569224512/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=5bd5612e. Accessed 17 Mar. 2023.