With a little intrigue - and a hint of complaint - in her voice, a young girl said to Avi, "You know, the thing about your books is that I have to keep thinking about them!"
What this young reader and many other fans realize is that there are special messages relevant to their own lives in Avi's novels. Beneath the diversity of genre are themes such as growing into one's abilities, glory or dishonor, decisionmaking, freedoms, dependability and a sense of humor.Diversity is the key to Avi's overall work. He writes comedies ("Emily Upham's Revenge"), mystery ("Who Stole the Wizard of Oz"), historical fiction ("Fighting Ground" and "Night Journeys"), fantasy ("Bright Shadow"), realism ("S.O.R. Losers") adventure ("Smugglers' Island") and ghost stories ("The Man Who Was Poe" and "Something Upstairs").
"Who Is That Masked Man, Anyway" is set at the time of radio's coming-of-age; "The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle" and "The Barn" is set in the 1880s. "The City of Light, City of Dark" is a comic-book novel, and "Nothing But the Truth" is called a documentary novel, written only in dialogue, menus, telegrams, broadcasts and press releases. His most recent book "Tom, Babette and Simon" resembles three short fairy tales.
Recently, in an interview, I asked Avi about the versatility in his 32 novels. "I wish I could come up with an answer that is reasonable. I think the reason is that I love stories. I'm eager to tell a story. Actually, I'm less caught up in the notion of being a writer than in the telling. To me - a fulltime writer - it is liberating in itself."
Avi came from a home that was full of books and a long writing tradition. His great-grandparents were writers as was his grandmother. While he was a voracious reader, Avi couldn't write. He has a disability called dysgraphia that causes left-right confusion, mispronunciation and confusion of letters, space and numbers. "I believe my parents put pressure on me not to be a writer because they saw my problems with writing . . . they were trying to keep me from doing something that they thought I wouldn't do well . . . That only made me more stubborn in my desire to become a writer."
Avi's writing became his way of proving himself to the world. While he still has trouble with time and retaining schedules, for example, he "makes haste slowly" with his writing to overcome the dys-func-tion.
"When I was young there were a couple of adults - friends of my parents - who gave me the greatest gift possible: They took me seriously. There was no criticism. I was treated as an equal."
He still considers that a very important thing, to take young people seriously and listen to what they have to say. Avi is also a strong advocate of having them read widely and develop the thinking process through their writing.
The name Avi? It was given to him by his twin sister when they were children and has become a habit with the whole family. He has always published under that name.
One of my favorite books by Avi is "Bright Shadow," the story of Morwenna, a recipient from the grand wizard of the last five wishes in the world. What an uneducated confused child does with five wishes is the meat of the story, but beyond that the wisdom as she protects this honor is a magnificent challenge. "It took me 14 years to write `Bright Shadow'," admits Avi. "It went back and forth, back and forth before it was right and ready to be published. While I didn't work on it the entire time, it certainly was always a part of me. I liked it a lot and kept working until it was ready for the printer."
Avi is currently working on two books simultaneously. One is the story of a mouse (a female) who is unusual in the sense that she doesn't mean to be a fighter, but is. The other is a "dream project," a 700-page Victorian-type novel that probably will be issued in two volumes. "In 1836, the English novel, `Oliver Twist' was published. That was not a small book! If you look at the novels after that time - "Little Women" and others - they were not slim reading. I'm going back to what is not current practice. And I'm telling young readers that they can read big books. I have a publisher and editor that is behind me on this project and we'll see what happens."
If anyone can convince young readers to tackle 700 pages, Avi can. He is passionate about what makes a good story. "I try to write from the heart. A good book is a book of promise. And promises are meant to be kept."
- AVI WILL BE SPEAKING AND SIGNING HIS BOOKS at Brigham Young University, Children's Literature Conference on Thursday, July 13, and King's English Bookstore, also Thursday, July 13th, 3:30 p.m.