Francess Lantz Biography

Authors and Artists for Young Adults on Francess Lantz

After working as a children's librarian for several years, Francess Lantz decided that she too wanted to contribute to the wealth of literature for young people that made its way to her library's shelves. Beginning her writing efforts in the early 1980s, Lantz has developed a reputation as a respected author of fiction for both preteen and young adult readers. Among her most highly praised works are the novels Fade Far Away, Someone to Love, and Dear Celeste, My Life Is a Mess. Lantz has also contributed to the "Sweet Valley Twins," "Hardy Boys," "Varsity Coach," and "Adventures of Mary-Kate and Ashley" series under a variety of pseudonyms.

Born in 1952 in Trenton, New Jersey, Lantz displayed a passion for writing at a young age. "I loved to write stories and illustrate them," she once stated. "My father was an architect, and we spent long hours drawing together, including creating 'tattoos' on each other's hands and arms with ballpoint pens."

Lantz grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where she gained a reputation as a tomboy among her friends. "My stories were usually about war, or spies, and they were always violent," she recalled. "Despite this, my fifth-grade teacher encouraged my talent and allowed me to stay inside during recess to tape record my stories with my friends."

While her early dreams involved growing up to become a famous writer, the Beatles' coming to the United States in 1964 changed everything for the twelve-year-old budding author. "I chucked literature in favor of rock 'n' roll," Lantz remembered. "I took guitar lessons, wrote songs, and soon began performing. After college, I moved to Boston to become a rock star. It never happened, but I had fun trying," and, as Lantz explained on her Web site, "starvation sent me back to school to become a children's librarian."

The Librarian Begins Writing

After completing her graduate degree in 1975, Lantz got a job as a children's librarian in Dedham, Massachusetts. "I used to put on a graveyard story-hour every year (yes, I took the kids to a nearby graveyard and scared the pants off them)," the author once remarked. After a couple of years I was having trouble finding new stories that were short, easy to read aloud, and really scary. In desperation, I wrote some myself. They were a big hit with the kids and that was when I first thought, 'hey, maybe I could write children's books.'"

Lantz's first manuscripts were picture-book texts, followed by a scary fantasy novel, and then two mysteries. Although none of those sold, she remained determined. That determination paid off: Lantz's next effort, a young adult novel she titled Good Rockin' Tonight, was picked up by a publisher, and Lantz's childhood dream of one day becoming a published author was realized.

While Lantz began her career by writing young adult novels loosely based on her own life, she eventually switched to middle-grade books, where she could add more humorous elements to her stories. In 1991's Mom, There's a Pig in My Bed!, Lantz captures readers with her title and doesn't let go. The story finds Dwight Ewing hoping that the earth will swallow him up, so he wouldn't have to endure his embarrassing family. After moving them to a small town, Dwight's father draws all sorts of attention to the family through his determination to raise seeing-eye pigs for blind people who have allergies to the dogs traditionally assigned to this sort of task. As a way of saving face, Dwight convinces everyone that his father is really wealthy and is engaged in his present porcine pursuits in an attempt to educate his children as to the ways of regular folks. Along with the predicted backfire to Dwight's misrepresentation, Mom, There's a Pig in My Bed! contains "some very funny scenes" involving swine, as well as insight into the problems that can spring from even an innocent lie, according to School Library Journal contributor Nancy P. Reeder. In Stepsister from the Planet Weird, Lantz introduces readers to Megan, who is in despair over her mother's upcoming marriage because it will mean having a "perfect" stepsister. Lantz tells her tale in the form of diary entries, and the book's "zany humor" combines with the author's "wit . . . [and] character development" to result in a novel that appeals to even reluctant readers, in the opinion of School Library Journal reviewer Cheryl Cufari.

Recalling the Teen Years

Perhaps one of the reasons Lantz's books have proven so popular with preteen readers is that she can remember the details of her own adolescence. "I can vividly recall my feelings when I first heard the [Beatles'] Sergeant Pepper album, when the cute older boy I had a crush on turned to me in the hall and patted me on the head, when I learned that my father had died. At the same time," she added, "I can now view the events from an adult perspective. Both views, I feel, are required to write young children's novels. If the author can see the world through a child's eyes and nothing more, the book will be one-dimensional and claustrophobic. If the author can only view children from an adult perspective, the story will be manipulative and didactic. So far I think I've been able to integrate both perspectives. If I ever lose that ability, it will be time to stop writing children's novels and move on to something else."

While Lantz concentrated on writing for preteens during the 1980s and much of the 1990s, she has returned to her focus on young adults with her more recent novels, including Someone to Love and Fade Far Away. In Someone to Love, published in 1997, fifteen-year-old Sara finds that her liberal ideals conflict with her parent's self-serving, materialistic lifestyle. Sara is drawn to Iris, who represents the independence, romance, and adulthood Sara dreams of. When her parents decide to adopt the soon-to-be-born child of the free-spirited Iris, Sara finds herself withdrawing emotionally from both her father and mother during what should have been an exciting time. Again focusing on a fifteen-year-old protagonist, Fade Far Away is narrated by Sienna, the artistic daughter of a famous sculptor and his wife, a woman obsessed with her husband's advancement in the arts community to the exclusion of all else, including her daughter. In a novel that Kliatt reviewer Claire Rosser called "intense and challenging," Sienna must contradict her mother and support her father's efforts to reevaluate his priorities after he is diagnosed with a brain tumor. "This emotionally charged coming-of-age story borrows the glamorous trappings of the art world," showing Sienna coming to terms with her father's failings and her own growing sense of self, according to a Publishers Weekly critic.

In writing for older teens, Lantz enjoys what she sees as "more challenging stories that stretch my abilities as a writer and, I hope, stretch my readers' abilities too. In the future," she once remarked, "I want to write more and better YA novels, and maybe some middle-grade books that are both funny and poignant." In addition to continuing to write fiction, Lantz contributes articles to magazines and newspapers, and has dabbled in nonfiction with Rock, Rap, and Rad: How to Be a Rock or Rap Star, which Voice of Youth Advocates contributor Patrick Jones praised as "an interesting book aimed at all the teens who ever wanted to see their faces on MTV." She and her family live in Santa Barbara, California, where she enjoys visiting local schools to talk to budding authors.