Tag Archives: Shannon Hale

Hello, Lauren Redding

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I am a Disney Fanatic, fairy tale scholar, ballet dancer, Ravenclaw, and general obsessive fangirl. And, an English Major.

Lauren Redding

Fairy tales and ballet! A winning combination!

I read like, well, like an English Major. As in A LOT. I’m frequently teased for my reading face, it’s “a signpost for all to read” (Shannon Hale’s Razo? Anybody?) I laugh, cry, snort, roll my eyes, and, more often than not, talk to the characters or the author while reading, telling them exactly what I think of their behavior. I then type it all up in very long Goodreads reviews. [I once went over the 20,000 character limit for a review and had to go back and cut unnecessary punctuation]

My love for grammar is the logical lovechild of my love of language and my love of the preciseness found in math. However, I am a huge proponent of incorrect grammar as a stylistic tool.

I am as much an expert on fairy tales as an eighteen year old person can be an expert on anything, and I love to argue about them, especially Disney versions and/or gender politics. I love the fantasy of the tales, the timelessness, the connection with ballet culture, the history, the diversity, the repetition, and the way that we can track written versions of stories to learn things about the societies in which they were written and crafted. I especially love how loosely written they are, leaving room for interpretation and imagination, which leads to such wonderful retellings from Robin McKinley, Gail Carson Levine, and Cameron Dokey.

My favorite author is L.M. Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables), and my obsessive reading of historical fiction when I was a little girl (as well as a lifetime of ballet classes) has embedded in me a curtsey impulse that nothing in 21st century society has succeeded in squelching.

Any writing I do is usually either unpublished rants I pretend are blog posts, or in my daily journal.

One of my favorite books is Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine.

Hey! I’m Eliza Schow

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I’m a Disnerd, a collector of threadbare books, a realist living in a world of fantasy. And I’m an English major.

Eliza Schow

Thinking of a secret

We’ve all been faced with a well-known question. What do you want to be when you grow up? My ready answer as a child was always, “I don’t want to grow up.” Grown-ups were much too boring, stern, and had absolutely no imagination. I was determined to escape the inevitable by flying away with Peter Pan to Neverland where I could fly all day, have adventures, and never become a cold-hearted adult. The decision made by Wendy to return to the real world of England at the end of the novel made me a bit melancholy. Years later in my life, my sympathy shifted from Wendy to the protagonist himself. In choosing to be a little boy forever, Peter chose to be lonely forever. Peter didn’t want to grow up because he didn’t want the humdrum life and responsibility that came with it. What he didn’t realize was that a grown-up isn’t sentenced to a dull life and responsibility can bring an infinite amount of joy. As a grown-up, I have a responsibility to help and bring hope to others, and I love it. I want to be a writer because I want to keep the maturity of an adult in addition to the heart of a child and because I want improve the point of view people have on life.

One of my favorite books is Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

Hi, I’m Amie Wambach

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I’m a poet, a reader, a baker, an orator, a feminist, and a Montanan. And I’m an English major.

Amie Wambach

Amie

When I was seven years old, my mom gave me a copy of Little House on the Prairie and told me I wasn’t allowed to move until I read at least one chapter. I got one page into the book, and was hooked for a lifetime. I have never been picky about genres, my interests range from fantasy to historical fiction, classic literature to horror, sci-fi to biography. Some of my favorite authors are Shannon Hale, J. R.R. Tolkien, and Diana Wynne Jones. My passion for reading soon grew into a love for writing. I have had stories and poems floating around in my head and scribbled into random notebooks since I was ten, most of them unfinished. Writing has always been the most natural and honest form of communication for me, but during my sophomore year in high school I decided to take a risk and join the speech and debate team. I soon found my niche as an orator, writing my own ten minute speeches then memorizing and performing them in front of a judge. While I never grew into a particularly strong public speaker, I never quit. I have always been shy, but the ability to reach and communicate to people ideas I am passionate about is addictive. I want to be an editor, probably for children’s and young adult literature, because I cannot imagine a life where I am not surrounded by stories and words.

One of my favorite books is Shannon Hale’s Book of a Thousand Days.

 

Hi, I’m Aubrey Milligan

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I’m a percussionist, a hiker, an optimist, and a poetry-lover. And I’m an English major.

Aubrey Milligan

Aubrey (right)

To talk about myself is difficult, but here goes (I’ll try not to bore you to tears). Like the rest of you I am an English major, and perhaps unlike some of you I also want to be a book editor. I get a nerdy excitement when I read good poetry or decipher some kind of meaning from and abstract text. I want to write a novel someday; I already have some ideas floating around in my head. Now I just need to give them some attention. I’m very interested in psychology and understanding what it means to be human, and that’s something I want to bring into my own writing. For recreational reading I’ve always been partial to fantasy, but I’m open to anything with a good plot and amazing characters. Thanks to my amazing AP Lit teacher I am now in love with poetry and classic novels and I can’t wait to expand my mental library!

One of my favorite books is Eoin Colfer’s Airman.