Ylvisaker, Anne 1965(?)–

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Ylvisaker, Anne 1965(?)–

Personal

Born c. 1965, in MN; father a minister; children: one daughter. Education: Earned M.A. (education). Religion: Lutheran.

Addresses

Home—St. Paul, MN. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Capstone Press, 151 Good Counsel Dr., P.O. Box 669, Mankato, MN 56002. E-mail—[email protected].

Career

Children's book author; taught elementary school for twelve years.

Awards, Honors

McKnight artist's fellowship, Loft Literary Center, 2005.

Writings

Dear Papa (novel), Candlewick Press (New York, NY),2002.

Your Stomach, Bridgestone Books (Mankato, MN), 2002.

Your Muscles, Bridgestone Books (Mankato, MN), 2002.

Your Lungs, Bridgestone Books (Mankato, MN), 2002.

The Arctic Ocean, Bridgestone Books (Mankato, MN),2003.

The Atlantic Ocean, Bridgestone Books (Mankato, MN),2003.

Avalanches, Bridgestone Books (Mankato, MN), 2003.

The Antarctic Ocean, Bridgestone Books (Mankato, MN),2003.

Droughts, Capstone Books (Mankato, MN), 2003.

Ice Storms, Capstone Books (Mankato, MN), 2003.

The Indian Ocean, Bridgestone Books (Mankato, MN),2003.

The Pacific Ocean, Bridgestone Books (Mankato, MN),2003.

Landslides, Capstone Books (Mankato, MN), 2003.

Lake Huron, Capstone Books (Mankato, MN), 2004.

Lake Superior, Capstone Books (Mankato, MN), 2004.

Lake Ontario, Capstone Books (Mankato, MN), 2004.

Lake Michigan, Capstone Books (Mankato, MN), 2004.

Lake Erie, Capstone Books (Mankato, MN), 2004.

Work in Progress

Two fiction projects.

Sidelights

A former teacher, Anne Ylvisaker has produced a number of nonfiction books for elementary-grade students as well as a novel-in-letters titled Dear Papa. The novel is narrated through letters written by its main character, Isabelle. At age nine, Isabelle loses her father, a soldier fighting during World War II who dies due to an allergic reaction to penicillin. The letters Isabelle pens, written to her dead father, her siblings, and her mother, detail the changes that take place after the girl's father's death. She is temporarily sent to live with an uncle after the cost of raising three children proves too much for her widowed mother, and when her Lutheran mom remarries a Catholic man bigger changes occur. Reviewing Dear Papa for Publishers Weekly, a contributor called Ylvisaker's young protagonist "pert, spunky and finger-in-the-dimple cute." The pace of the novel "starts out slowly as readers are introduced to the characters," noted School Library Journal critic Hannah Hoppe, the reviewer adding that the storyline "picks up speed and has a strong ending as Isabelle finds direction and clarity during a tumultuous period." In regards to Ylvisak-er's narrative voice, a Kirkus Reviews contributor claimed that the author "falters a few times in her de but" but nonetheless creates a novel "refreshingly free of bathos." Hazel Rochman, in Booklist, acknowledged Ylvisaker for her ability to bring warmth to her young heroine, noting that the girl's "letters are personal and immediate, and the story is full of daily details that … dramatize the child's conflict between loyalty to her birth father and her growing love for the man who fathers her now."

Born and raised in Minnesota, Ylvisaker's love of stories began as a child, as she looked for ways to occupy her time during family road trips. Looking out the backseat window watching other cars drive by, Ylvisaker in vented stories about each passing vehicle as well as about the farms they drove by. Returning home, she wrote these stories down in her journal. In graduate school Ylvisaker started to take her writing seriously, and she was fortunate to find a mentor in noted children's author Judy Delton. In an online interview with BWI Books, Ylvisaker commented that she loves to write fiction because "I love the thrill of creation, the

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thrill of finding out what's going to happen. It's also the most terrifying part of writing…. I like rearranging history, I like the surprise of the characters, finding out what's going to happen with them in the story. Writing fiction is an adventure."

In regards to her writing process, Ylvisaker noted in her BWI Books interview that she does not use outlining techniques to guide her through the creative process. Instead, she tends to instantly capture what comes to her while writing. "When I wrote my first draft of [Dear Papa]…, I wrote as fast as I could. I would not allow myself to slow down and think about names or I would have analyzed it too much."

A teacher in the early elementary grades for over a decade, Ylvisaker decided to commit to writing on a full-time basis when her health began to wane. Discussing her transition from teacher to author, she commented: "I love writing … deciding what was it I could do, a friend said to me: 'If you want to be a writer, call yourself a writer.' Then she gave me a magnet with this quote, 'Go in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined.' It helped me focus and made me think, 'What do I want my life to be like?' And I wanted to make my living writing."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, August, 2002, Hazel Rochman, review of Dear Papa, p. 301.

Kirkus Reviews, July 15, 2002, review of Dear Papa, p. 1048.

Publishers Weekly, August 12, 2002, review of Dear Papa, p. 301.

School Library Journal, August, 2002, Hannah Hoppe, review of Dear Papa, p. 199; May, 2004, Eva Elisabeth VonAncken, review of Droughts and Landslides, p. 174.

Voice of Youth Advocates, February, 2003, review of Dear Papa, p. 484.