Author Spotlight: Margaret Peterson Haddix

After finishing Palace of Mirrors, I looked up the copyright date on Just Ella: 1999. Yes, Ella's about to have her tenth anniversary! In honor of this, I thought I'd shine the spotlight on author Margaret Peterson Haddix.

I've been reading Margaret's books for more than a decade. I believe my first Haddix read was Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey, which was brief, blunt, and brutally honest. A few years later, I read a bunch of her books in short succession, including Running Out of Time and Turnabout. I really liked the fact that Just Ella had no magic whatsoever, and I loved that the would-be princess was a bold, daring girl who valued honesty, health, intelligence and the environment more than power and wealth. I like the plot twists of her semi-dystopic books (even if I saw them coming - I've always been one of those annoying people who can figure out the ending of the book or the movie fifteen pages or minutes in) and the straightforwardness of her realistic fiction.

The following is Margaret Peterson Haddix's full bibliography. The titles are listed in order of publication, and I've marked the books I've read in bold.

Running Out of Time
Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey
Leaving Fishers
Just Ella
Shadow Children sequence
- Among the Hidden
- Among the Impostors
- Among the Betrayed
- Among the Barons
- Among the Brave
- Among the Enemy
- Among the Free
Turnabout
The Girl With 500 Middle Names
Takeoffs and Landings
Because of Anya
Escape From Memory
Say What
The House on the Gulf
Double Identity
Dexter the Tough
Uprising
The Missing series
- Book 1: Found
- Book 2: Sent
Palace of Mirrors (companion to Just Ella)