An inventive and prolific writer, Avi is well-known to critics, teachers, parents, and especially to young readers for his inviting, readable novels. Even reluctant readers are swept away by Avi's fast-paced, adventurous, and imaginative plots. Because he uses a variety of genres, such as mystery, adventure, historical, coming-of-age, and fantasy, to tell his stories, Avi broadens his audience with each new work. In a statement for Twentieth-Century Children's Writers, the talented author summarized his goals as a young adult novelist: "I try to write about complex issues--young people in an adult world--full of irony and contradiction, in a narrative style that relies heavily on suspense with a texture rich in emotion and imagery. I take a great deal of satisfaction in using popular forms--the adventure, the mystery, the thriller--so as to hold my reader with the sheer pleasure of a good story. At the same time I try...