"There are two things you can count on in a book by Joan Bauer. One, it will make you laugh. And two, the girl who is telling the story will be really good at something, but not something you'd expect," Amazon.com reviewer Patty Campbell commented in a review of Bauer's 1999 novel Backwater. Bauer, an advertising salesperson-turned-writer, has written five books, which have earned her a reputation as a deft spinner of engaging, off-beat tales about young adult themes. "While the general perception of young adult literature is that it's all dark and depressing, many worthy writers of the genre produce work of wit and hilarity," noted "Rising Star" a monthly website feature of The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. "Joan Bauer is Exhibit A in this category; her characters' narration is smart, funny, and original."
In a 1996 Alan Review article entitled "Humor, Seriously," Bauer explained that she uses levity to "teach young people to use laughter against the storms of life." After quoting Mark Twain, who once said that "Humor must speak the truth," Bauer explained, "Finding that truth in characters for me evolves through a process of layering--determining where the characters have been, what they've experienced, what they've overcome and failed abysmally at--that's when the truth of who they are emerges and the voice becomes concrete." For Bauer, humor also reveals that "the person or character has moved from seeing life as a series of problems or things done to them, and has moved into greater clarity and control of the situation." Being someone who knows from first-hand experience about the trials and tribulations of a difficult youth, Bauer works to help teens through their problems and boost their self-esteem through her fiction--both as entertainment and as mild therapy for those who are coping with the problems and pressure of growing up nowadays.
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