Whitcomb, Laura
Whitcomb, Laura
Personal
Female. Education: California State University, Northridge, B.A. (English), 1993. Hobbies and other interests: Madrigal singing.
Addresses
Home—West Linn, OR. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Houghton Mifflin, 222 Berkeley St., Boston, MA 02116-3764. E-mail—[email protected].
Career
Writer and educator. Teacher of language arts in California and Hawaii schools. Portland Christmas Revels, Portland, OR, props mistress.
Member
Author's Guild, Authors League of America.
Awards, Honors
Three Kay Snow awards; Bulwer-Lytton Writing Contest runner up.
Writings
A Certain Slant of Light (novel), Graphia (Boston, MA), 2005.
Author's work has been translated into Italian, Chinese, and Japanese.
Adaptations
Film rights to A Certain Slant of Light were sold to Warner Brothers; the novel has also been adapted as an audiobook by Listening Library.
Sidelights
California-based teacher and writer Laura Whitcomb made her publishing debut with A Certain Slant of Light, a alternative take on the romance genre that features two ghosts who fall in love with each other while grappling with their respective otherworldly challenges. Whitcomb's first spirit protagonist, Helen, died over a century ago, and is now haunting a professor. While using the man as her host, Helen mainly exists as light and is therefore invisible to the living; therefore, she is surprised when, while at school with her human host, one of the teen boys in the professor's class can see her. It turns out that James, another ghost, is inhabiting the body of the student; unlike Helen's host, James's host has overdosed on drugs and the ghost now inhabits and animates the boy's lifeless body. With James's help, Helen relocates to a similar lifeless human female, and her mortal shell allows her to pursue the romance that has blossomed between the two. Their human hosts bring problems, however, and the lovers must now over-come real-life obstacles such as disapproving parents, in addition to spirit-world issues.
Ilene Cooper, reviewing the novel in Booklist, predicted that Whitcomb's debut novel would be "irresistible to teens." The author "successfully navigates a complex plot that after many dramatic turns is resolved both cleverly … and happily," noted Martha V. Parravano in a review for Horn Book. Francisca Goldmith, writing in School Library Journal, also enjoyed A Certain Slant of Light, stating that Whitcomb's story "shows the engaging possibilities of immortality—complete with a twist at the end that wholly satisfies."
Biographical and Critical Sources
PERIODICALS
Booklist, November 15, 2005, Ilene Cooper, review of A Certain Slant of Light, p. 57.
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, September, 2005, Deborah Stevenson, review of A Certain Slant of Light, p. 53.
Horn Book, November-December, 2005, Martha V. Parravano, review of A Certain Slant of Light, p. 728.
Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, April, 2006, Patricia Jimenez, review of A Certain Slant of Light, p. 636.
Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2005, review of A Certain Slant of Light, p. 984.
Kliatt, September, 2005, Debra Smith, review of A Certain Slant of Light, p. 30.
Publishers Weekly, August 22, 2005, review of A Certain Slant of Light, p. 66.
School Library Journal, September, 2005, Francisca Goldsmith, review of A Certain Slant of Light, p. 216.
Voice of Youth Advocates, February, 2006, Deborah L. Dubois, review of A Certain Slant of Light, p. 507.
Washington Post Book World, December 18, 2005, Elizabeth Hand, review of A Certain Slant of Light, p. 7.
ONLINE
Elites TV Web site, http://www.elitestv.com/ (May 5, 2006), Taylor Brooke, interview with Whitcomb.
Houghton Mifflin Web site, http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/ (May 5, 2006), "Laura Whitcomb."
Laura Whitcomb Home Page, http://www.laurawhitcomb.com (May 5, 2006).