Williams, Laura E. (L.E. Williams, Laura Ellen Williams)

Personal

Born in Korea. Education: College degree.

Addresses

Home—Hartford, CT.

Career

Children's book writer. Manchester High School, Manchester, CT, English teacher.

Writings

FOR CHILDREN

The Long Silk Thread: A Grandmother's Legacy to Her Granddaughter, illustrated by Grayce Bochak, Boyds Mills Press (Honesdale, PA), 1995.

Behind the Bedroom Wall, illustrated by A. Nancy Goldstein, Milkweed Editions (Minneapolis, MN), 1996.

Torch Fishing with the Sun, illustrated by Fabricio Vanden Broeck, Boyds Mills Press (Honesdale, PA), 1999.

The Spider's Web, illustrated by Erica Magnus, Milkweed Editions (Minneapolis, MN) 1999.

The Ghost Stallion, Holt (New York, NY), 1999.

Up a Creek, Holt (New York, NY), 2000.

The Executioner's Daughter, Holt (New York, NY), 2000.

(And photographer) ABC Kids, Philomel (New York, NY), 2000.

(Editor) Unexpected: Eleven Mysterious Stories, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2005.

The Best Winds, illustrated by Eujin Kim Neiland, Boyds Mills Press (Honesdale, PA), 2006.

Author of books in "Let's Have a Party" series.

"MAGIC ATTIC CLUB" SERIES; UNDER PSEUDONYM L.E. WILLIAMS

Rose Faces the Music, illustrated by Bill Dodge, Magic Attic Press (Portland, ME), 1997.

Cheyenne Rose, illustrated by Dan Burr, Magic Attic Press (Portland, ME), 1997.

Island Rose, illustrated by Tony Meers, Magic Attic Press (Portland, ME), 1998.

Champion Rose, illustrated by Bill Dodge, Magic Attic Press (Portland, ME), 1999.

"MYSTIC LIGHTHOUSE" MYSTERY SERIES

The Mystery of the Dark Lighthouse, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2000.

The Mystery of Dead Man's Curve, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2000.

The Mystery of the Bad Luck Curse, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2001.

The Mystery of the Haunted Playhouse, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2001.

The Mystery of the Phantom Ship, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2001.

The Mystery of the Missing Tiger, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2002.

Sidelights

Multicultural and multigenerational stories as well as mysteries and young-adult novels are among the books written by Laura E. Williams. Inspired by her own travels—born in Korea, she has also lived in Belgium and on the island of Hawaii—Williams began her writing career crafting original folk tales, as in her debut, The Long Silk Thread: A Grandmother's Legacy to Her Granddaughter, as well as The Best Winds and Torch Fishing with the Sun. Another picture book, ABC Kids, is self-illustrated and features what School Library Journal contributor Linda Ludke described as "stunning close-up photography" of young children at play. Williams' middle-grade novels Behind the Wall and The Spider's Web deal with the power of prejudice, both in

World War II Germany and among modern neo-Nazis, while the quandary of a modern teen and an environmentalist parent are the focus of Up the Creek.

A "graceful story" in the opinion of a Publishers Weekly contributor, The Long Silk Thread draws young readers back to ancient Japan and into a family tradition. As young Yasuyo listens, her beloved grandmother tells the stories of her long life while winding a ball from tied-together strands of silk. When the elderly woman dies, Yasuyo climbs the silk up to heaven, but learns that her true place is on earth with those who love her. In Torch Fishing with the Sun Williams crafts what a Publishers Weekly contributor described as "an affectionate original folktale" about a Hawaiian boy named Makoa who looks forward to being entrusted with an important task: like his grandfather, he will learn to capture the sun so that, unlike the other men of his village, he can fish without torchlight during the dark of night. In Booklist Lauren Peterson praised Torch Fishing with the Sun as "both appealing and timeless," while in Booklist Ilene Cooper noted of The Long Silk Thread that Williams' "telling is stately but is also full of warmth."

Another multigenerational picture book, The Best Winds focuses on Jinho, a boy who is frustrated by his immigrant grandfather's determination to retain his Korean ways. Ignoring the advice the man shares while the two are constructing a kite together, the boy decides to fly the new creation on his own, before the weather is appropriate. When the kite is damaged due to his in- ability to direct it, Jinho realizes that there is much he can learn from the elderly man; making a new kite, the two work together to make it take flight. In School Library Journal Amanda Conover Le praised The Best Winds as "a heartwarming tale," and Booklist contributor Kay Weisman deemed it a "great choice for spring story hours."

Moving to an older audience, Williams focuses on life in the Middle Ages in The Executioner's Daughter. Here readers meet Lily, a shy girl whose father is the village executioner. When other children shun her, Lily turns to the forest animals, and begins to care for those that are injured. After his wife dies, Lily's father asks that she take her mother's place as his assistant, which forces the girl to face the horrors of her father's job and the ironies of her age. Reviewing The Executioner's Daughter for School Library Journal, Bruce Ann Shook praised the book's "strong, insightful" heroine and called Williams' novel a "well-written story" that serves as "an excellent vehicle for demonstrating the harsh realities of life" in mid-fifteenth-century England.

In the middle-grade novel Up a Creek Williams introduces thirteen-year-old Starshine Bott and her single mother, Miracle. Involved in activist causes, mother and daughter live in a small Louisiana town with Starshine's grandmother. When Miracle's involvement in an effort to save a stand of old oak trees from destruction prevents her from caring for her mother when the elderly woman is hospitalized, Starshine must reexamine the values and choices she had formerly accepted without question. Praised by School Library Journal contributor Shawn Brommer as "a celebration of family and feminine strength," Up a Creek features "characters [that] are well realized and multidimensional." While noting that Williams "takes on momentous issues with mixed results," a Publishers Weekly contributor predicted that Up a Creek will inspire "budding environmentalists." In the view of Booklist critic Karen Hutt the novel will "appeal to girls struggling to define themselves and their relationships with their mothers.

In addition to standalone novels, Williams has also contributed to several novel series. In her "Mystic Lighthouse" mysteries, which include The Mystery of Dead Man's Curve, The Mystery of the Bad Luck Curse, and The Mystery of the Haunted Playhouse, Zeke and Jen are living with their aunt Bee in Maine, and their home is an old lighthouse. In the series, the siblings encounter ghostly visits, strange curses, phantom ships, and suspicious accidents, and ferret out each mystery with Aunt Bee's help. Each "Mystic Lighthouse" book includes a removable fill-in-the-blank page on which junior sleuths can record clues and other notes as the story unfolds.

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 1, 1996, Ilene Cooper, review of The Long Silk Thread: A Grandmother's Lecacy to Her Granddaughter, p. 940; August, 1996, Hazel Rochman, review of Behind the Bedroom Wall, p. 1900; March 15, 1999, Lauren Peterson, review of Torch Fishing with the Sun, p. 1336; June 1, 1999, Hazel Rochman, review of The Spider's Web, p. 1832; July, 2000, review of ABC Kids, p. 2044; January 1, 2001, Karen Hutt, review of Up a Creek, p. 941; April 1, 2006, Kay Weisman, review of The Best Winds, p. 49.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, May, 2000, review of The Executioner's Daughter, p. 340; October, 2000, review of ABC Kids, p. 87; February, 2001, review of Up a Creek, p. 240.

Five Owls (annual), 2003, review of The Executioner's Daughter, p. 30.

Horn Book, January-February, 1997, Hannah B. Zeiger, review of Behind the Bedroom Wall, p. 69.

Kirkus Reviews, January 1, 2006, review of The Best Winds, p. 47.

New York Times Book Review, June 18, 2000, review of The Executioner's Song, p. 25.

Publishers Weekly, July 10, 1995, review of The Long Silk Thread, p. 57; June 17, 1996, review of Behind the Bedroom Wall, p. 66; February 15, 1999, review of Torch Fishing with the Sun, p. 107; December 11, 2000, review of Up a Creek, p. 85.

School Library Journal, September, 1996, Amy Kellman, review of Behind the Bedroom Wall, p. 208; June, 1999, Steven Englefried, review of Torch Fishing with the Sun, p. 108; November, 1999, review of The Ghost Stallion, p. 166; December, 1999, review of The Spider's Web, p. 144; June, 2000, Linda Ludke, review of ABC Kids, p. 137, and Bruce Anne Shook, review of The Executioner's Daughter, p. 156; January, 2001, Shawn Brommer, review of Up a Creek, p. 135; January, 2006, Adrienne Furness, review of Unexpected: Eleven Mysterious Stories, p. 145; March, 2006, Amanda Conover Le, review of The Best Winds, p. 204.

Voice of Youth Advocates, February, 2000, review of The Ghost Stallion, p. 412; October, 2000, review of The Executioner's Song, p. 272; April, 2001, review of Up a Creek, p. 47.