Exploring the world of Neal Shusterman BRUISER Exploring the world of Neal Shusterman

Neal Shusterman (born 1962), is an American author of young-adult fiction, and a screenwriter. Shusterman was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. Shusterman and his family moved to Mexico City when he was sixteen. He finished high school there and quotes, "Having an international experience changed my life, giving me a fresh perspective on the world, and a sense of confidence I might not have otherwise." He attended the University of California, Irvine, where he double-majored in psychology and theater, and was also on the varsity swim team. During his years there, he wrote a popular humor column for the school paper. After college, he got a job as an assistant at Irvin Arthur Associates, a talent agency in Los Angeles, where Lloyd Segan became his agent. Within a year, Shusterman had his first book deal, and a screenwriting job. He currently lives in Southern California with his children Brendan, Jarrod, Joelle, and Erin. Shusterman won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for The Schwa Was Here, and most recently the book won the 2008 California Young Reader Medal. Some of his other novels include The Dark Side of Nowhere, Red Rider's Hood, What Daddy Did, The Shadow Club, The Shadow Club Rising, The Eyes of Kid Midas, and the Star Shards Chronicles trilogy: Scorpion Shards, Thief of Souls, and Shattered Sky. His novels Downsiders and Full Tilt, have each won over 20 awards. One of his more recent novels is Everlost, which he is now adapting for a feature film for Universal Studios. Shusterman's newest novel is Unwind (2007) and his next novel, Antsy Does Time (to be released in September 2008), is a sequel to his book The Schwa was Here. Shusterman has also written for TV, including the Original Disney Channel movie Pixel Perfect, as well as episodes of Goosebumps and Animorphs. Shusterman was invited by Orson Scott Card to write novels parallel to Ender's Game about other characters from the series, but eventually Card decided to use the idea himself, and wrote Ender's Shadow and the following series. Shusterman's inspiration for writing first came in ninth grade, when his English teacher, seeing a spark of creativity, challenged him to write a story a month. He has been quoted as saying that " Anawana has played such an important part of my life. My career as an author of young-adult novels began because of the stories I used to tell when I was a counselor." On his own website, he writes "When I was in college, attempting to write my first novels, I went back to that same summer camp I went to as a kid, this time as a counselor. I became known as the camp story teller, and would make up stories to tell the kids at night. Some of those stories became books a few years later - The Shadow Club, and The Eyes of Kid Midas. It was hearing those kids' reactions to my stories that really made me believe I could be a successful author." Neal Shusterman Award-winning author Neal Shusterman grew up in Brooklyn, New York, where he began writing at an early age. After spending his junior and senior years of high school at the American School of Mexico City, Neal went on to UC Irvine, where he made his mark on the UCI swim team, and wrote a successful humor column. Within a year of graduating, he had his first book deal, and was hired to write a movie script.

Neal Shusterman A Word From The Author... When I was a kid, I wanted to be everything. A writer, an actor, a doctor, a rock star, an artist, an architect, and a film director. I had a teacher who said "You can't do that ? you'll be a jack of all trades and a master of none!" But I had it worked out: I'd be a jack of seven trades, and master of three. Then, in ninth grade I had an English teacher who really made a difference in my life. She saw my love of writing, and challenged me to write a story a month for extra credit. Since I desperately needed extra credit in her class, I took her up on the challenge, and by the end of ninth grade, I really began to feel like a writer. That's when writing emerged above all my other interests as my driving passion.

Bruiser Would you ever date someone out of your “species”?

“Tell us what your Thinking!” Point of View Bruiser is written in first person: There is a narrator telling the reader (you) about their feelings about what is happening in the story. “Tell us what your Thinking!”

Point of View continued…. There are 4 different narrators in Bruiser though. By doing this the author gives the readers multiple interpretations of a situation. It will say at the beginning of a chapter if the story is switching narrators. -“It’s my turn to say what happened!!!” -“No! I am still telling my version!”

Main Characters Bronte Tennyson Brewster Cody Uncle Hoyt

Bronte Falls for Bruiser Swimmer Kind-Hearted Has a “stray-dog” complex.

Tennyson Athletic Cocky Intelligent Protective

Bruiser Loner Introvert Big

Cody Child Enthusiastic Impulsive

Uncle Hoyt Angry Strict Drunk

Chapter Titles Bronte and Tennyson’s parents are both professors of literature, so naturally they too have a good vocabulary. Most chapter titles are a higher level vocabulary word: Symbiosis Consolation Coercion Revelation Factoids Decimated Receptacle Obtuse Deteriorating Intercession Détente Misdirection Emphatically Ibex Howlingly Keelhauled Conundrum Peripherally Gastronomy Oblivious Detonation Reflexively Transference Injurious Epic Enumeration Orifice Anabolic Surreptitious Stuff Formidable Contrition Quietus Trajectory Precipice Bandwagon Clandestine Ejection Agendum Unprecedented Pacified Abject Interloper Incongruous Illumination Implosion Swordsmanship Interface Reclamation Painless Hello Stuff Receiver Phosphorescence Cotillion Subterfuge Embolism Incommunicado Dickensian Audacious Cathartic Palpable Subcutaneous Decimating Fallout

Themes Empathy Dealing with pain Sacrifice Helping others