WOOD, Maryrose 1962(?)-

PERSONAL:

Born c. 1962; children: two. Education: New York University, bachelor's degree, 1996.

ADDRESSES:

Home—New York, NY. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer, lyricist, librettist, playwright, and screenwriter.

MEMBER:

BMI Musical Theater Workshop; Dramatists Guild; three-time winner of Richard Rodgers Award.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Georgia Bogardus Holof Lyricist Award.

WRITINGS:

Love, Mom (screenplay), Raw Impressions, 2004. Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall in Love, Delacorte Press (New York, NY), 2006.

Why I Let My Hair Grow Out, Berkley Books (New York, NY), 2007.

Librettist and lyricist of The Tutor.

SIDELIGHTS:

Maryrose Wood is a lyricist, librettist, playwright, screenwriter and, since 2006, a novelist. Wood described how she got involved in book publishing for young adults in a TeensReadToo.com interview: "I had been writing a lot of different kinds of things for about ten years but not novels, until my good friend E. Lockhart helpfully pointed out to me that a lot of the work I'd been writing for the theatre featured teen or kid characters.… I absolutely loved (and seemed to be pretty successful at) writing … teen character[s], and E. thought I'd have a wonderful time writing teen fiction, and it turns out she was right."

In Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall in Love, Wood introduces fourteen-year-old Felicia, a student at an alternative high school who has a crush on Matthew, who is one of her friends. In order to spend time with Matthew, Felicia partners with him on a science project designed to identify what makes certain people fall in love. Reviews of Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall in Love were predominantly positive. Gillian Engberg, writing in Booklist, called the debut novel "uproariously funny" where "realism gives way to giddy humor, intrigues, and captivating characters." A critic in Publishers Weekly noted, however, that "the fast-paced, slang-driven narration in this debut novel takes a bit of getting used to." Susan Riley put down any fears parents might have about the suggestiveness of the book's title in a review in School Library Journal, calling it "nearly squeaky clean and lots of good fun with a predictable but happy ending." In a Kirkus Reviews article, a critic praised the characters in the novel, saying that "Felicia's boundless energy and witty—albeit hyperactive—musings are infectious."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 15, 2005, Gillian Engberg, review of Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall in Love, p. 58.

Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2005, review of Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall in Love, p. 1329.

Publishers Weekly, February 6, 2006, review of Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall in Love, p. 71.

School Library Journal, February, 2006, Susan Riley, review of Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall in Love, p. 140.

ONLINE

Maryrose Wood Home Page,http://www.maryrosewood.com (August 6, 2006).

TeensReadToo.com, http://www.teensreadtoo.com/ (August 6, 2006), author interview.

Tutor Web site,http://www.tutormusical.com/ (August 6, 2006), author profile.