Weatherly, Lee 1967- (Titania Woods)

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Weatherly, Lee 1967- (Titania Woods)

PERSONAL:

Born 1967, in Little Rock, AR; daughter of a psychiatrist and a drama teacher; married; husband's name Pete. Hobbies and other interests: Reading, dancing, cooking, walking.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Hampshire, England. Agent—Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency, 70-75 Cowcross St., London EC1MEJ, England. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer and editor. Founder of Flying Frogs (writing consultancy). Worked variously as a restaurant hostess, desk clerk, gift-shop clerk, receptionist, and secretary.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Sheffield Children's Book Award, 2003, and Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers selection, American Library Association, both for Child X; Edgar Allan Poe Award shortlist, Mystery Writers of America, for Missing Abby; Stockport Children's Book Award, 2007, for Kat Got Your Tongue.

WRITINGS:

NOVELS

Child X, David Fickling Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Missing Abby, David Fickling Books (New York, NY), 2004.

Breakfast at Sadie's, David Fickling Books (New York, NY), 2005.

Them, Barrington Stoke (Edinburgh, Scotland), 2006.

Kat Got Your Tongue, David Fickling Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Watcher, Barrington Stoke (Edinburgh, Scotland), 2007.

"GLITTERWINGS ACADEMY" SERIES; UNDER NAME TITANIA WOODS

Midnight Feast, Bloomsbury (London, England), 2007.

Friends Forever, Bloomsbury (London, England), 2007.

Fairy Dust, Bloomsbury (London, England), 2007.

Fledge Star, Bloomsbury (London, England), 2007.

Term-Time Trouble, Bloomsbury (London, England), 2007.

New Girl, Bloomsbury (London, England), 2007.

Seedling Exams, Bloomsbury (London, England), 2007.

Flying High, Bloomsbury (London, England), 2008.

NONFICTION

(With Helen Corner) How to Write a Blockbuster, McGraw-Hill (Blacklick, OH), 2006.

Also author of picture books Pigwitchery and Hic!

SIDELIGHTS:

Lee Weatherly, an American-born writer living in England, is the author of the young-adult novels Child and Kat Got Your Tongue. Publishing under the pseudonym Titania Woods, Weatherly has also produced several works in the "Glitterwings Academy" series of fantasy tales for younger readers. Being a full-time writer "has its ups and downs like any job, but in general, I feel very, very lucky to make my living doing something I enjoy so much," the author remarked on her home page.

Weatherly's debut novel, Child X, concerns Jules Cheney, a British teen whose adoring father, Ben, abruptly leaves their home and cuts off all contact with Jules after a horrible argument with his wife. Later, while reading the newspaper, Jules learns that Ben is not her biological father and that he has filed a lawsuit against her mother, demanding financial restitution for his years of parenting. To protect her identity, news reports refer to Jules as "Child X," though she quickly becomes the focus of a media circus. "The effects of divorce are particularly well honed and believable," noted School Library Journal reviewer Daniel L. Darigan, and Lori Atkins Goodson, writing in the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, called Child "a story of families and lies and how those lies can devastate everyone around them, no matter when or how the truth emerges."

Missing Abby centers on Emma, an insecure thirteen-year-old who was the last person to see her friend, Abby Ryzner, before she disappeared. Though Emma and Abby once shared a love of fantasy role-playing games, the girls drifted apart after Emma, who was bullied by classmates, transferred schools and distanced herself from Abby. Joining the search for the missing girl, Emma must now earn the trust and respect of Abby's goth friends. A Kirkus Reviews critic wrote that the novel "focuses on Emma's growth in emotional maturity," and School Library Journal critic Susan W. Hunter observed that Emma "gradually gains strength to surmount shameful memories and learns to accept her own uniqueness."

In Breakfast at Sadie's, a British teenager unexpectedly finds herself running a bed-and-breakfast. The work was inspired by an incident Weatherly came across while reading 500 Mile Walkies, a travel book by Mark Wallington. "While hiking the Cornish Coastal trail, Mark stayed at a B&B that, so far as he could tell, was being run by a 10-year old girl, with no adults in sight," Weatherly stated on her home page. In the work, Sadie takes charge of the family business after her mother becomes ill and her aunt runs off. "Sadie is an endearing character who learns how strong she really is," Janet Hilbun remarked in School Library Journal.

An amnesia victim attempts to piece her life back together in Kat Got Your Tongue. After running into the street and being struck by a car, thirteen-year-old Kathy loses her memories of her family and friends, as well as her sense of identity. Adopting the nickname "Kat," the teen hopes to find answers to several unsettling questions about her past, including the reasons why her former best friends now dislike her. Weatherly "offers insight to the girl's troubled state of mind before the accident and simultaneously traces her difficult reentry into a world full of strangers," noted a Publishers Weekly contributor, and Amy S. Pattee, writing in School Library Journal, commented that "readers are asked to consider the ultimate mystery: who any of us really are."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, July, 2002, Frances Bradburn, review of Child X, p. 1850; January 1, 2005, Gillian Engberg, review of Missing Abby, p. 847; August, 2007, Francisca Goldsmith, review of Kat Got Your Tongue, p. 64.

Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, February, 2003, Lori Atkins Goodson, review of Child X, p. 448.

Kirkus Reviews, June 1, 2002, review of Child X, p. 812; November 1, 2004, review of Missing Abby, p. 1047; May 15, 2007, review of Kat Got Your Tongue.

Kliatt, May, 2004, Barbara McKee, review of Child X, p. 24.

Publishers Weekly, July 29, 2002, review of Child X, p. 72; June 4, 2007, review of Kat Got Your Tongue, p. 51.

School Library Journal, June, 2002, Daniel L. Darigan, review of Child X, p. 148; September, 2006, Janet Hilbun, review of Breakfast at Sadie's, p. 221; September, 2007, Amy S. Pattee, review of Kat Got Your Tongue, p. 210.