First Words

<DIV>Most kid write stories. A few of them grow up to be successful authors. Before Stephen King created <I>Carrie</I> he created Jhonathan at age nine. And before there was Rabbit Angstrom there was Manuel Citarro detective in John Updike's hard-boiled mystery written at fourteen. Before <I>Jurassic Park</I> there was young Michael Crichton's story about the mysteriously wounded man lying unattended in the street.<P> Editor Paul Mandelbaum persuaded our most popular American authors to share their childhood writings and their treasured photographs. What he's gathered is a fascinating delightful collection of writing and early snapshots that reveal young minds at work wrestling with early versions of ideas that were to take hold of their writings in later years. Of course the young Madeline L'Engle would wonder about space and the meaning of eternity. Of course Margaret Atwood would question conventional female behavior arguing for the right to smoke cigars.</P><P><I>First Words</I> is an inspiration to budding writers and enthusiastic teachers and a revelation for readers everywhere.</P><P> This revised and condensed edition includes the following writers:</P><P> Margaret Atwood</P><P> Roy Blount Jr.</P><P> Paul Bowles</P><P> Pat Conroy</P><P> Michael Crichton</P><P> Rita Dove</P><P> Clyde Edgerton</P><P> Gail Godwin</P><P> Allan Gurganus</P><P> Charles Johnson</P><P> Stephen King</P><P> Maxine Hong Kingston</P><P> Ursula LeGuin</P><P> Madeleine L'Engle</P><P> Jill McCorkle</P><P> Norman Mailer</P><P> Joyce Carol Oates</P><P> William Styron</P><P> Amy Tan</P><P> John Updike</P><P> Gore Vidal</P><P> Tobias Wolff</P><P></P><P></P></DIV>