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Charlotte Agell

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Charlotte Agell
BornCharlotte Agell
(1959-09-07) September 7, 1959 (age 64)
Norsjö, Sweden
OccupationNovelist and teacher
NationalityAmerican
Notable worksShift, Welcome Home Or Someplace Like It
Website
www.charlotteagell.com

Charlotte Agell (born September 7, 1959) is a Swedish-born American author for young adults and children who currently lives in Maine. Her second novel, Shift, was featured on the front cover of the Brunswick Times Record in October 2008. In addition to working on novels and children's books, Charlotte Agell also teaches in Maine.[1]

Agell also wrote and illustrated picture books for young children.[2]

Biography

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Early life

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Agell was born in Norsjö, Sweden, on September 7, 1959.[2][3] She is the daughter of businessman Christer L. Agell and artist; Margareta "Meta" McDonald.[2] Her great-grandfather, Hugo K. Segerborg, was the director of Royal Swedish Academy of Arts.[4] When asked about her childhood, Agell said, "somebody always handed me art supplies."[4] Her family moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada; when she was two years old; where her brother Karl and sister Anna were born. She attended Carlyle Elementary school[5] where she learned English Language and listened to tales of Maine from Anglo-Canadian and Franco-Canadian friends.[3] She became enamored with Maine hence wrote a story set in Halibut, Maine; a fictional town in which she imagined herself as her protagonist, a ruddy-cheeked boy catching fish for dinner.[4]

At the age of eleven, Agell's family moved from Canada back to Sweden (where they stayed briefly) and then to Hong Kong . She graduated from a Lutheran mission school; Hong Kong International School;[5] which she said was affiliated with an open-minded ecumenical church.[1]

As a compromise with her mother, Agell applied to Bowdoin College in Brunswick, for early acceptance. Instead of leaving school for a hitch-hiking stint with her boyfriend, she left Hong Kong and arrived in Maine in 1977. She felt an immediate sense of home and has lived in the state ever since. Recalling her childhood story, she wonders if she'd "written herself into the state."[3]

Agell graduated from Bowdoin College in 1981, where she studied art[4] and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in education.[2] She later earned a teaching certificate from the University of Southern Maine, and a master's degree in education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1986.[2]

Agell became a naturalized citizen of the United States in the 1990s.[2]

Agell taught multilingual and multicultural education at Portland High School, Portland, ME[3] and lived in several Maine towns before settling in Brunswick with her husband Peter J. Simmons, an arts administrator and master gardener. She and Peter have two children, Anna and Jon.[2]

Along with her work as a writer and illustrator, Agell is a teacher in the gifted and talented language arts program at Harrison Middle School in Yarmouth .[6] She says she's found her "tribe" with middle-schoolers.[2] She has also conducted workshops for youths and adults at various literary events throughout the state,[2] including the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts[7] in Deer Isle. She was also a member of Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance.[citation needed]

Literary works

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Dancing Feet (1994) is a rhyming story about the function of feet, hands, noses, legs and mouths.[8][9] The text is matched with watercolor illustrations that depict similarities and differences of people from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds and reflecting Agell's interest in multicultural education.[8][9][10] One reviewer found the drawings range from the "suggestively simple to excessively cartoonish."[10] However, other reviewers found the book enjoyable to read and a good choice for story hour.[8] Recommended for ages 3–7.[10]

To the Island (1999) and Up the Mountain (2000) both features four friends: Dragon, Cat, Chicken and Rabbit who spend time together exploring their surroundings.[2][11] In To the Island, recommended for ages 3–5, the four friends venture to a nearby island for a picnic. The story is described by Donna Gold of the Portland Press Herald as "neither silly nor solemn,"[12] with a text suitable for beginning readers and illustrations that, through use of vibrant colors, depict a happy time spent with friends.[2][12][13]

In Agell's Up the Mountain, the four set off on a rainy day to climb a mountain.[2][14] The adventure is, reportedly, "too mild for children at the upper end of the target audience"[15] (the four just basically walk to the top of the mountain and back), but reviewers agree the simple rhymes and the illustrations, conveyed in ink, watercolor and pastels, are suitable for young listeners.[11][16] Recommended ages 2–5.[17]

Welcome Home or Someplace Like It (2003), Agell's debut novel,[18] is a semi-autobiographical story[19] told through the experiences of 13-year-old Aggie Wing. Aggie and her brother, Thorne, are faced with learning to cope with life in Ludwig, Maine after being dropped off there by their mother, a romance writer, who leaves to do research in Niagara Falls. The two children have moved a lot and must now learn to live with their 91-year-old grandfather.[20][21] Themes in the book include abandonment,[22] bravery,[19] community,[21] family[23] and discoveries of home.[21] Elsa Geskus, in Childhood Education, describes the book as a coming of age story [23] and Barbara Auerbach reports in the School Library Journal, the book has "strong and winning characters; excellent pacing; and a lazy, nostalgic setting."[24] Welcome Home or Someplace Like It has been compared with Polly Horvath's The Canning Season.[22] Recommended for ages 12 and up.[23]

Agell's dystopian[4][25] book, Shift (2008), takes on an admittedly darker tone than her previous books,[1][2][19] written in the aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon that occurred in the United States on September 11, 2001.[4][19] Agell felt a sense of outrage that the U.S. government's response to those events. "Was this really my country bombing its way to peace? Wiretapping its citizens to protect their freedoms?" she wrote in an interview for Macmillan Publishers, "As someone who chose American citizenship on purpose, as an adult, I felt such a sense of betrayal. My country had been hijacked by a fear-mongering regime: ours. The whole thing had a surreal quality about it."[19]

Agell channeled her anger into the novel, exploring themes such as personal freedom,[19] government control,[2][25][26] separation of church and state,[1][2] religion,[1][27] science[25] and evolution,[19] and identity,[19] as experienced by the 15-year-old protagonist, Adrian Havoc[2] who, with his sister Shriek, must somehow make sense out of a world that is "out of whack."[25] The world they travel through in Shift is the partially post-nuclear United Christian States[28] controlled by Homestate agents,[1][26] with similarities to 1984 (George Orwell), The Stand (Stephen King) and The Road (Cormac McCarthy).[1]

Agell views Shift as a cautionary tale.[1] Reviewers find the book thought-provoking and readable[25] for its intended young adult audience,[2] though some find the plot confusing[25][27][28] and take issue with the seemingly anti-Christian themes.[2][27] Agell disagrees with this sentiment, saying through her character Lenore, "God wants us to think."[1][19] Agell finds it strange that, in the book and in real life, this idea stirs up controversy.[19] Agell wants her readers to learn to ask "what if" and develop the skills to think for themselves, regardless of their religious affiliations.[1][19]

In March 2011, Shift was adapted for stage by Al Miller and performed as part of the Theater Project (a Young Company Production), in Brunswick, ME.[29][30]

Agell's The Accidental Adventures of India McAllister (2010) focuses on the daily life of a fourth grade girl, India McAllister, growing up in a small town in Maine.[31] Themes of the book include adoption,[32][31] friendships,[32] breast cancer,[21][33] homosexuality[32][31][33] and divorce[21][33] which are interwoven throughout the book as ordinary occurrences in the young girl's life.[34] The text is accompanied by India's (Agell's) line drawings.[31] One reviewer criticized the book as too complicated, leaving unresolved most of the issues India encounters in the book.[33] Recommended for children ages 8–11, The Accidental Adventure of India McAllister was named among the top ten GLBTQ books for young readers by the American Library Association's 2011 Rainbow Project.[35]

List of books published

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Young adult novels

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  • Shift ISBN 978-0805078107
  • Welcome Home or Someplace like It ISBN 978-0805070835

Picture books

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Chapter Books

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Selected talks and demonstrations

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Brogan, Beth (17 October 2008). "Local author Agell takes 'long walk in toxic wilderness' with 'Shift'" (PDF). Times Record. Brunswick, ME. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 March 2013. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r "Charlotte Agell". Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale. 2011-09-01.
  3. ^ a b c d Nelson, Sophie (May 2013). "Charlotte Agell". Maine Magazine. Archived from the original on 14 October 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Keyes, Bob (14 December 2008). "Monumental 'Shift': Charlotte Agell's young-adult novel takes its readers seriously with its imagining of an American run by a controlling, fundamentalist regime". Portland Press Herald. Portland, ME. p. C.8. Archived from the original on 28 March 2015. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  5. ^ a b Agell, Charlotte. "Charlotte Agell, Author & Illustrator". Charlotte Agell Official Website. Archived from the original on 30 September 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  6. ^ a b Keyes, Bob (21 March 2004). "In the Arts". Portland Press Herald. No. Final Edition. Portland, ME. p. 2E.
  7. ^ "Writers alliance plans retreat for September". Portland Press Herald. No. Final Edition. Portland, ME. 31 July 2005. p. E8.
  8. ^ a b c Cooper, Ilene (July 1994). "Dancing Feet". Booklist. 90 (21). Canadian Periodicals Index Quarterly: 1952.
  9. ^ a b McKinstry, Lesley (May 1994). "Dancing Feet". School Library Journal. 40 (5): 84.
  10. ^ a b c "Dancing Feet". Publishers Weekly. 241 (13): 95. 28 March 1994.
  11. ^ a b Sherif, Sue (May 2000). "Up the Mountain (Book Review)". School Library Journal. 46 (5): 126.
  12. ^ a b Gold, Donna (13 December 1998). "Hello, Young reader. The best children's books written and illustrated by Mainers are wonders to read--and behold". Portland Press Herald. No. City Edition. Portland, ME. p. 6E.
  13. ^ Zvirin, Stephanie (1 November 1998). "To the Island". Booklist. 95 (5). Canadian Periodicals Index Quarterly: 500.
  14. ^ "New Books of Maine". Portland Press Herald. No. City Edition. Portland, ME. 27 February 2000. p. 10E.
  15. ^ "Forecasts: Children's Books". Publishers Weekly. 247 (11): 83. 13 March 2000.
  16. ^ Rosenfeld, Shelle (15 May 2000). "Up the Mountain". Booklist. 96 (18): 1747.
  17. ^ "Up the Mountain". Publishers Weekly. 247 (11): 83. 13 March 2000.
  18. ^ "Signings, etc. - Charlotte Agell". Portland Press Herald. No. Final Edition. Portland, ME. 2 November 2003. p. 14E.
  19. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Charlotte Agell". Macmillan Publishers. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  20. ^ "Welcome Home or Someplace Like It". Kirkus Reviews. Kirkus Media, LLC: 1219. October 2003.
  21. ^ a b c d e Phelan, Carolyn (15 November 2003). "Agell, Charlotte. Welcome Home or Someplace Like It". Booklist. 100 (6). Canadian Periodicals Index Quarterly: 607.
  22. ^ a b Roback, Diane; Brown, Jennifer M.; Bean, Joy; Zaleski, Jeff (24 November 2003). "Welcome Home or Someplace Like It". Publishers Weekly. 250 (47): 65.
  23. ^ a b c Geskus, Elsa (22 March 2004). "Review of Welcome Home or Someplace Like It". Childhood Education: 161.
  24. ^ Auerbach, Barbara (November 2003). "Agell, Charlotte. Welcome Home or Someplace Like It". School Library Journal. 49 (11). Canadian Periodicals Index Quarterly: 134.
  25. ^ a b c d e f "Agell, Charlotte: SHIFT". Kirkus Reviews. 1 August 2008.
  26. ^ a b Cole, Aimee (September 2008). "Agell, Charlotte. Shift". Kliatt. 42 (5): 5.
  27. ^ a b c Cooper, Ilene (15 October 2008). "Shift". Booklist. 105 (4): 38.
  28. ^ a b Lewis, Johanna (January 2009). "Agell, Charlotte. Shift". School Library Journal. 55 (1): 98.
  29. ^ "Art and Theater: Listings". Portland Press Herald. Portland, ME. 17 March 2011. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  30. ^ "Cast & Crew" (PDF). No. 118. February 2011. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  31. ^ a b c d "The Accidental Adventures of India McAllister by Charlotte Agell". Kirkus Reviews. Kirkus Media, LLC. 22 July 2010.
  32. ^ a b c Phelan, Carolyn (July 2010). "The Accidental Adventures of India McAllister by Charlotte Agell". Booklist: 55–56.
  33. ^ a b c d Johnston, Charlotte M. (July 2010). "The Accidental Adventures of India McAllister". School Library Journal. 56 (7): 54.
  34. ^ "The Accidental Adventures of India McAllister". Publishers Weekly. 257 (28): 130. 19 July 2010.
  35. ^ "The Accidental Adventures of India McAllister by Charlotte Agell". Gay Parent Magazine: 17–18. March–April 2011.
  36. ^ "2011 Rainbow Book List". Rainbow Book List. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
  37. ^ ""Tell Me a Story: About Maine" art show opens July 26 at USM LAC". Sun Journal. Lewiston, ME. 19 July 2013.
  38. ^ "Atrium exhibit: Illustrators' works are a delight to the eye and imagination". Sun Journal. Lewiston, ME. 17 August 2013.
  39. ^ Sarnacki, Aislinn (26 September 2011). "Book festival to bring 35 authors to Bangor". Bangor Daily News. Bangor, ME. p. 6. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  40. ^ Kamila, Avery Yale (21 March 2011). "Get under the covers: The Maine Festival of the Book invites you to discover what really goes into the craft of writing". Portland Press Herald. Portland, ME. p. E.31. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  41. ^ Keyes, Bob (21 November 2010). "Arts Dispatches". Portland Press Herald. Portland, ME. p. D2.
  42. ^ Anonymous (8 January 2009). "Children's celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Jan. 19". Sun Journal. Lewiston, ME. p. C13.
  43. ^ Anonymous (6 January 2010). "College will celebrate King with children". Sun Journal. Lewiston, ME.
  44. ^ "College, children's authors to celebrate Dr. King". Sun Journal. Lewiston, ME. 4 January 2012.
  45. ^ Thibodeau, Aimee (14 January 2012). "Things to Do, Monday Jan 16: Literature". Bangor Daily News. Bangor, ME.
  46. ^ "Writers alliance plans retreat for September". Portland Press Herald. No. Final Edition. Portland, ME. 31 July 2005. p. B5.
  47. ^ "Briefly". Sun Journal. Lewiston, ME. 6 September 2006. p. B5.
  48. ^ Bouchard, Stephanie (24 July 2005). "Authors top Books & Blooms guest list". Portland Press Herald. Portland, ME. p. E8.
  49. ^ Livingstone, Paul (3 February 2005). "Festival at Pineland celebrates winter, encourages reading". Portland Press Herald. Portland, ME. p. F2.
  50. ^ Routhier, Ray (6 May 2004). "Nothing small about festival of Maine literature for small fry". Portland Press Herald. Portland, ME. p. 13D.
  51. ^ Gold, Donna. "Family Arts". Portland Press Herald. No. Final Edition. Portland, ME. p. 28V.
  52. ^ "Dispatches". Portland Press Herald. No. Coast Edition. Portland, ME. 7 August 1999. p. 2B.
  53. ^ "WERU fills two-day celebration with music, drumming, dancing". Portland Press Herald. No. City Edition. Portland, ME. 17 July 1997. p. 13D.
  54. ^ "Church summer festival is everything it should be". Portland Press Herald. No. City Edition. Portland, ME. 14 August 1996. p. 8.G.
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