Amazon isn't the 
only way! Support 
your independent
 bookseller at

booksense.com

Alden R. Carter, Writer

1113 W. Onstad Dr.
Marshfield, WI 54449

                                  Telephone: 715-389-1108

 acarterwriter@tznet.com


 
Books by
Alden Carter


Programs and Workshops
 
Book Ordering

 

Carol S. Carter, Photographer
Carol S. Carter, Photographer

Advice for Young Writers

Brush Wolf Press

Credit List/
Biographical information
 

The Store 
-------- 
In Association with 
Amazon.com 

Amazon isn't the 
only way! Support 
your independent bookseller at
booksense.com


 

Named to the Wisconsin Library Association's list "Notable Wisconsin Authors" in 2002, Alden R. Carter joined the company of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Carl Sandburg, Sterling North, George Shannon, and Kevin Henkes among the state's finest writers.  His 11 novels, 21 nonfiction titles, and 7 picture books for children and young adults have won numerous honors including six American Library Association Best Book awards.  For his picture books for and about children with disabilities, he was named iParenting “Dad of the Month” for January 2005.
 

Mr. Carter's latest book for young adults is
his novel in stories Love, Football and Other Contact Sports, published by Holiday House in April 2006. 

Besides his work for young people, Mr. Carter also writes adult fiction and nonfiction.  His Bright Starry Banner: A Novel of the Civil War  was released by Soho Press in March 2004 and won the prestigious John Esten Cooke Fiction Award from the Military Order of the Stars & Bars. His China: From the First Chinese to the Olympics was published by Booklocker in 2008.  In the fall of 2008, Holiday House will publish his novel for young adults Walkaway.



Recent fiction for young adults

Love, Football, and Other Contact Sports


Wisconsin Library Association
Outstanding Achievement Award

“[A] dynamic collection of short…. Readers can leave their stereotypes at the door.”Booklist starred review.

"For reluctant readers or advanced, funny, heartwarming, lovely stuff."—Kirkus Reviews

"A delightful, often hilarious, fast-paced read that offers truisms for life." School Library Journal

"Jock to loner, academic snob to outcast, Carter explores and shatters the sterotypes behind the relationships, friendships, rumors, peer pressure, sports, bullies, and other assorted forms of mental anguish that come with high school." Amazon.com

****

Alden R. Carter's fiction is praised for its realistic depiction of young adult life. His novels Sheila's Dying, Growing Season, Up Country, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Bull Catcher, and Wart, Son of Toad were named American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults. In 1994, the Young Adult Library Services Division of the ALA selected Up Country to its list "The Best of the Best: the 100 Best Young Adult Books of the Last 25 Years."

His recent novel, Crescent Moon, (Holiday House $16.95 ISBN 0-8234-1521-x) was designated a New York Public Library Best Book for the Teenage.

Mr. Carter's novel for young adults Brother's Keeper  was released in Sept. 2003 by Scholastic Education. 

****

Adult Fiction

Now in Paperback

NAMED BEST CIVIL WAR NOVEL OF THE YEAR
BY THE MILITARY ORDER OF THE STARS & BARS



Bright Starry Banner: A Novel of the Civil War
Mr. Carter's novel for adults brings to life all the horror and glory of the Battle of Stones River. Set in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, at the turn of 1862-1863, Bright Starry Banner is Civil War fiction like you've never experienced it before.  The kaleidoscopic narrative follows generals and privates, amateur soldiers and weathered professionals through one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War.  Visit the Bright Starry Banner page to learn more. Peter Cozzens says:

 "Carter brings... Civil War conflict to life in a manner that no novelist since Joseph Pennell [a century ago]."--Peter Cozzens, author of No Better Place to Die: The Battle of Stones River

"Crackles with action, suspense, and drama." --Booklist

"Rendered with the creative force that amounts to a sense of mission."
--Kirkus Reviews (starred)

"This monumentally ambitious novel covers in exquisite and graphic detail one of the bloodiest engagements of the Civil War....For a depiction of war this is as good as it gets." 
                                                        --Publisher's Weekly (starred review)

****

New and Recent Nonfiction

China: From the First Chinese to the Olympics


"From the air, Beijing’s Olympic stadium seems to float on the land,
an immense bird’s nest of intertwining buttresses and girders that seems
made as much of wind and sunlight as concrete and steel. Unlike the
glowering barrier of the Great Wall, a few dozen miles to the north, this
structure welcomes the visitor to China. Here, the stadium seems to
announce, is a changed China, a China fully involved with the
community of nations as partner, competitor, and powerful voice in the
making of the 21st century."
           
--from the introduction to China: From the First Chinese to the Olympics

Alden Carter's concise history traces the development of China from its ancient roots to the present with a special emphasis on the era of reform since the death of Mao Zedong in 1976.  Looking into China's challenging future, he considers both the immense obstacles facing China and possible outcomes of social change and global competition on an ancient civilization that only truly joined the modern world a century ago.

Mr. Carter is honored that the international scholar Dr. David Wen-Wei Chang has contributed a thoughtful and moving forward to China: From the First Chinese to the Olympics.

****

Brother to the Eagle

The Civil War Journal of
Sgt. Ambrose Armitage, 8th Wisconsin Infantry




Edited with annotations by Alden R. Carter

“Fascinating…comprehensive [and] superbly edited, Brother to the Eagle will be welcomed both by researchers and the reading public.”      --Steven E. Woodworth, author of  Nothing but Victory: The Army of the Tennessee

Recruited from farms and country villages, the 8th Wisconsin Infantry became one of the hardest marching and hardest fighting units of the Civil War. At its head, between the regimental colors and the national flag, rode the eagle Old Abe, his defiant scream announcing the presence of the famed 8th on battlefields across the South.

****

YOUNG ADULT NONFICTION

Mr. Carter's many and varied nonfiction books have won numerous honors.  His respected books on military and political history include The War of 1812: Second Fight for Independence, winner of an Outstanding Achievement in Children's Literature Award from the Wisconsin Library Association, and The Spanish-American War: Imperial Ambitions, named Best Juvenile Nonfiction Book of the Year by the Council for Wisconsin Writers. The Civil War: American Tragedy has become a standard introductions to the war for grade-school children.

A corporate buy-out and reorganization of Franklin Watts, Inc., has orphaned scores of young adult titles, including most of Mr. Carter's nonfiction books.  Pending reprinting by another company, he has a limited number of copies for sale  in print or CD form.  Please visit the 
Book Ordering page.

****

PICTURE BOOKS

Mr. Carter's picture books for and about children facing special medical challenges have won wide recognition.  He is co-author with his daughter, Siri, of I'm Tougher Than Asthma, an American Bookseller Pick of the Lists, an Orbis Pictus Award nominee from the National Council of Teachers of English, a Cooperative Children's Book Center Choice, and an Outstanding Achievement in Children's Literature from the Wisconsin Library Association.

Many of the same awards were given to his picture books about Down syndrome, Big Brother Dustin and Dustin's Big School Day. 

Mr. Carter frequently collaborates with his wife, the photographer Carol Shadis Carter. Their book on vision impairment, Seeing Things My Way,  was named an Outstanding Book for Young People with Disabilities by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY). 

The Carters' book Stretching Ourselves: Kids with Cerebral Palsy, received an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal and was named a Wisconsin Library Association Outstanding Book.  The Carters' latest picture book from Albert Whitman, I'm Tougher than Diabetes, won the Acher/Eckblad Children's Picture Book Award from the Council for Wisconsin Writers (CWW).

****
DRAMA

Mr. Carter's play Driver's Test: a comedy in one act has been performed widely in the United States as well as in Canada, Puerto Rico, the Czech Republic, New Zealand, and Australia.  Send a self-addressed, stamped 6 x 9 envelope to Alden R. Carter, 1113 W. Onstad Dr., Marshfield, WI 54449-1732 for a sample copy of the performance script and performance agreement.

****
SPEAKING

Mr. Carter has made over 600 presentations in schools and at conferences nationwide.   With humor and a knack for communicating with young people, he combines advice on writing with sound lessons for growing up.  "I write for young people because I'm always astonished at their courage," he explains.  "They deserve good stories and when they want to talk in my imagination or in person, I listen."

Mr. Carter presents a flexible range of convocations, assemblies, seminars, classes, and commencement addresses.

Programs include:

I Couldn't Be Batman, So I Took Next Best:
Making Dreams Come True
 children
Dreams on Paper: the Creative Process  young adults
The Elephant's Q-Tip: an Exercise in Creativity

children
Hooked on Reality: the Art of Young Adult Nonfiction young adults or adults
Love and Football: Writing Sports Fiction for Young Adults
young adults or adults
I'm Tougher Than _______: A workshop about fear, confidence, and creating a children's book.
children or young adults
Special Books for Special Kids: Creating Photo-Essays about Challenged Children an all-ages slide presentation
Sifting the River of Memory: Writing Historical Fiction for the Y2K Generation    adults
From Pen to Press (a one-day to week-long writers' workshop) adaptable for all age levels

For more information on programs, go to programs and workshops

For Mr. Carter's upcoming schedule, go to speaking appearances

Go to record & references for a list of Mr. Carter's past speaking appearances and refences.

Mr. Carter welcomes inquiries by phone, letter, or e-mail acarterwriter@tznet.com.

****

BRUSH WOLF PRESS

Mr. Carter recently established Brush Wolf Press in order to publish
Auschwitz Veterinarian
by Dr. Tadeuz Kowalczyk, an account of his five terrible years in the Nazi death camps. Auschwitz Veterinarian is available from the press at a nominal fee or may be downloaded free at http://www.aldencarter.com/brushwolfpress.html.

****


FAMILY MATTERS

Alden and Carol Carter live in Marshfield, Wisconsin.  They have two adult children, Brian, an architect, and Siri, a student and horse trainer.
The Carters enjoy hiking, canoeing, bicycling, books, baseball, and their pets--a ferret, a dog, and a fluctuating number of fish, as well as the birds, squirrels, rabbits, possums, and raccoons that visit their outside feeders.

For more biographical information on Mr. Carter and his family, go to resume.

 


   Home / Books / Info / Lectures / Carol Carter / E-mail the Carters  /
 Contact Us