Cynthia DeFelice Biography

Authors and Artists for Young Adults on Cynthia DeFelice

Cynthia DeFelice combines the oral skills of a storyteller with the technical skills of a writer to create children's stories drawn from the folk tradition, American history, and contemporary society. Her books feature young people thrust into situations that require them to make vital decisions for themselves and to assume responsibilities far beyond their years. In her picture books and novels, DeFelice mixes the elements of suspense, drama, and humor into "crackling good storytelling," as a Publishers Weekly reviewer described her efforts. Whether exploring the plight of Native Americans, as in the award-winning Weasel, making a past way of life seem vivid and real to twenty-first century readers, or highlighting the endangered ecosystem as she does in Lostman's River and Devil's Bridge, DeFelice's primary concern is in telling a compelling story, creating the "then-what-happened"" curiosity that keeps readers turning the page. "DeFelice knows how to make history come alive by providing characters who readers will find both realistic and sympathetic," maintained Voice of Youth Advocates contributor Cindy Lombardo, recommending titles by DeFelice that showcase epochs from nineteenth-and early twentieth-century American history.

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