[Chapters: My Growth As a Writer] is an autobiography of Lois Duncan, and should be classified strictly as such; by no stretch of the imagination should it be regarded as containing information having to do with the craft of writing. We get tales from her teens and before on love and life; we get the chance to read short rejected poems and stories she wrote before making it to the big time. It reads easily, like one of her novels; she has a good hold on her adolescence and one would swear she is indeed 14 years old. She always wanted to write, and it seems she has never had to invent much in the way of plot for her novels: her life is one long teen novel.

Terry Lawhead, in his review of "Chapters: My Growth As a Writer," in School Library Journal (reprinted from the March, 1982 issue...