Carolyn Mackler has written two young adult novels featuring ordinary girls who feel awkward about themselves and are trying to find a place in their world. "So many of us feel like we don't fit in, that we're inferior to others," Mackler explained in an interview posted at the TeenReads Web Site. It takes time to learn, Mackler found, that "We're not so bad after all." Her stories of triumph and strengthened self-worth have been popular not only with teenage readers but with the critics as well.

Mackler grew up in western New York state in a house of storytellers. Her mother read to her constantly. "My dad would tell me what he called his 'roots,' the stories of his life," Mackler revealed in an interview with the TeenReads Web Site. Mackler herself has been telling stories, literally, since she was a little girl. When she was...