{"id":16948,"date":"2013-01-16T23:33:28","date_gmt":"2013-01-17T03:33:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=16948"},"modified":"2013-01-19T23:12:48","modified_gmt":"2013-01-20T03:12:48","slug":"stand-out-authors-shannon-hale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=16948","title":{"rendered":"Stand-out Authors: Shannon Hale"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve now posted 12 years of Sonderbooks Stand-outs<\/a>, and this year I noticed there were a lot of repeats from previous years.<\/p>\n

Now, I don’t think I’m biased in a bad way. Yes, I expect good things when I pick up these authors’ books, but they consistently turn out good ones. Some of them can’t seem to write a book I don’t like.<\/p>\n

So, looking at only the authors who appeared in the 2012 list, I thought it would be fun to look back at their previous books that were Sonderbooks Stand-outs.<\/p>\n

I’m going to start with Shannon Hale<\/a>, because she has 3 books on the 2012 Stand-outs, and she also has more total books on all the Stand-outs lists than any other one of this year’s authors, with 15 books.<\/p>\n

How, you may well ask, did Shannon manage to get more books on my Stand-outs lists than she has published? Well, her books tend to be stand-outs both in print form and as audiobooks.<\/p>\n

Let’s do a retrospective.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In 2003, Shannon published her first book, The Goose Girl<\/a><\/em>. It was my favorite book of the year, and #1 in Young Adult Fantasy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In those days, there weren’t as many book blogs. I e-mailed Shannon to tell her I’d named her book a Sonderbooks Stand-out, and we struck up an e-mail friendship. Judging by how much I love all her books, it’s obvious we are kindred spirits.<\/p>\n

2004 Sonderbooks Stand-out<\/a>: #4 in Fantasy for Young Adults was Enna Burning<\/a><\/em>, the second of the Books of Bayern.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

2005 Sonderbooks Stand-out<\/a>: #9 in Young Adult Fantasy was Princess Academy<\/a><\/em>. I was so happy when it won a Newbery Honor, even though I’m a little more partial to the Books of Bayern myself.<\/p>\n

2006 Sonderbooks Stand-out<\/a>: #2 in Teen Fiction was River Secrets<\/a><\/em> (edged out only by The King of Attolia<\/em>, by Megan Whalen Turner)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>2007 was Shannon’s first year with multiple Sonderbooks Stand-outs<\/a>. I got to listen to an audiobook of The Goose Girl<\/em> (#2 in Audiobooks), and she wrote my favorite book of all of hers, Book of a Thousand Days<\/a><\/em>, which was #1 in Teen Fantasy Fiction. And she broke into adult books with Austenland<\/a><\/em>, which was #2 in Romance Fiction.<\/p>\n

She topped her record in 2008 with <\/a>4 Sonderbooks Stand-outs<\/a>:
\nThree of them were Audiobooks:
\nBook of a Thousand Days<\/a><\/em> was #1.
\nEnna Burning<\/a><\/em> was #4.
\nPrincess Academy<\/a><\/em> was #6.
\nAnd Rapunzel’s Revenge<\/a><\/em> was #2 Graphic Novel of the year.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

2009 Sonderbooks Stand-outs<\/a> had another of the Books of Bayern, with Forest Born<\/a><\/em> at #3 in Fantasy Teen Fiction.<\/p>\n

After 2009, Shannon had twins, so there’s no surprise she had a few years off my lists. In the meantime, I got to meet her at the National Book Festival.<\/a> I was so happy when she knew who I was as soon as I said my name!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Perhaps it’s getting where I’m biased about Shannon’s books because I like her so much, but I became her friend because of her books, and I’m not going to stop telling people how wonderful I think her books are simply because I think she’s wonderful, too.<\/p>\n

And this year she’s back on my 2012 Sonderbooks Stand-outs<\/a> three times!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Midnight in Austenland<\/a><\/em> completely hit a sweet spot for me. It’s for adults, a Jane Austen take-off, and has a divorced heroine seeing the truth about how valuable she is. It was my favorite adult book of the year.<\/p>\n

And then Palace of Stone<\/a><\/em> was #6 in Teen Fiction, and I finally read Shannon’s one book that I hadn’t read yet, The Actor and the Housewife<\/a><\/em>, which was #6 in Other Fiction.<\/p>\n

I think it’s safe to call Shannon Hale one of my favorite authors! If you haven’t read all her wonderful books, consider this a To Be Read List!<\/p>\n

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