LoginDecember 2022 Notable Author: Elissa Brent Weissman
"I’m secretly still 11 years old in my head." - Elissa Brent Weissman
Elissa Brent Weisman grew up on Long Island, New York in a Jewish community and then attended Johns Hopkins College in Baltimore where she met her future husband and where she ended up teaching. She has been writing, “ever since I could pick up a pencil.” She wrote her first novel, “The Ryland Revolt,” when she was 10 and tried to get it published but to no avail. She kept writing and is now best known for her Nerd Camp series which features Gabe, a probable nerd, who has the summer of his life at camp. It’s a summer filled with crazy bunkmates, a mysterious lice epidemic, a karaoke showdown, an intense Color War, and a midnight journey to Dead Man’s Island.
“I always imagine that my characters are Jewish,” said Weissman who as a child attended both Hebrew School and the local public school. This comes out in small references in her books, usually in cultural situations or normal conversation. For example, in “Standing for Socks” and “The Short Seller,” the use of grandparent names, holidays, or an upcoming bar mitzvah give the clues, but they are not a major part of the story. The exception is Weissman’s eighth children’s book, The Length of a String, which follows the quest of a now 12-year-old black girl, adopted as an infant by a Baltimore Jewish family, to find her birth family.
Weissman’s books have been featured in Entertainment Weekly, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, NPR’s “Here and Now,” and more. She finally published The Ryland Revolt (first chapter only) when she included it in her anthology titled, Our Story Begins. It’s a compilation of the stories that, now famous children’s authors and illustrators wrote and drew when they were children.
Weissman moved away from Baltimore and currently lives in Christchurch, New Zealand with her husband and their two children.
Genre: Young Adult
Category of fiction for readers from ages 12-18. The subject matter and genres of YA correlate with the age and experience of the protagonist..
Sample Reading List: Nerd Camp, Nerd Camp 2.0, Nerd Camp Briefs, The Renegade Reporters, The Length of a String.
Writer's Prompt - Fun With Words
Fun With Words - Maryland Writers’ Association (MWA) invites you to have fun writing young adult fiction like Elissa Brent Weissman. Using only 100 words, take a young adult who is a member of a specific faith or culture and put them in a situation where you then reveal their faith or culture ONLY through their words, actions, and practices. Title your work and submit to: https://marylandwriters.org/Notable_Maryland_Authors by the 22nd of the month to receive an MWA Fun With Words submission certificate. Selected responses to be published with next month’s article as well as posted on the MWA website.
Submit Your FUN WITH WORDS Prompt
The MWA is a 33-year-old state-wide association (501c3) dedicated to encouraging and mentoring Maryland writers, poets, playwrights, and authors. Go to: www.MarylandWriters.org for more info.
Viola Robinson-Boone
Jan. 9, 2023Elijah’s Doubts - “Did you study, Lijah?” Elijah's mind was a million miles away. His sad face and knitted brows went unnoticed. He tuned out Xavier’s voice. “What’s wrong with you? Did you hear me?” Xavier threw up his hands. “Not really. I was wondering about something. Do you like being an Acolyte?” “Yep. I love participating in service. Did you learn the Apostles Creed?” “I get nervous lighting those candles. I studied, but I might mess up. The other kids will laugh at me.” “No, they won’t cause you’re not going to mess up. I’ll help you. We make a great team.
Mackenzie Tate
Jan. 9, 2023Hope’s Frustration - Hi. I’m Hope. I go to church on Wednesdays and Sundays. I read the bible before bed, and I pray all the time. I get made fun of at school, I get called weird names. It really hurts because I’m just trying to do what I like, which is believing in God and Jesus. It makes me mad when someone disrespects someone with different beliefs than that person. I know this is not what any God would want for His or Her children. Me and some of my friends have started a club for religion bullying here.
Beth Smith
Jan. 9, 2023Starring Role - Jessica was mad. She should have the starring role in The Diary of Anne Frank not Sarah Goldberg. After history, she was going to complain. Mr. Friedman started to lecture as Jessica took her seat. “Since the school is producing Anne Frank, I am going to talk today about life in Amsterdam during WW II,” he said. “I was there dodging the Nazi army.” Jessica listened, especially about kids her age in concentration camps. After class, she walked straight to the drama office and announced, “Anne was Jewish. The actor should be Jewish. Sarah is perfect.” Everyone nodded. Jessica smiled.
Karen McIntyre
Jan. 9, 2023The Game - The game was tied 10 to 10, 30 seconds left. Any game between Riverside High and their archrival Delaney was exciting, but this year it would determine who would go to the state championship. Carl walked out onto the field and turned to look at the far goalpost. He knew it was only 40 yards away, but it seemed in the next county. He drew a deep breath, let it out slowly, and crossed himself. Father, Son, Holy Spirit, he thought as he readied himself. Snap. The holder positioned the ball, and Carl kicked it with all his might.
Lawrence McGuire
Jan. 9, 2023So Rare A Virtue - Nilo Zaraza wanted God to hurt the Bully Boys. His bloody lip throbbing, he knelt alone in the woods behind Thornring Middle School. He untangled his abuela's rosary. Even some teachers here treated migrant kids as a problem they resented. If God didn't listen, the Bully Boys would make him class scapegoat. But then he remembered the words of Father Rodrigo, their priest in Venezuela: You pray the rosary not to control others but to control yourself. Nilo grasped the rosary's crucified Jesus. He would not ask God to hurt the Bully Boys, no. Nilo would pray for moral courage.
Roy Maier
Jan. 9, 2023I’m Bored - Today was just like any other day. I don’t work nor care. At sunrise, I prayed my rosary. For breakfast I was fed mush or was it gruel. After that I weeded the garden. It was not going well. None of us were gardeners in our previous lives. I get bored easily. Same clothes, black and white, that never seem to fit right. The only thing that changes around here is the sizes of the robes we share.
Jon Ketzner
Jan. 9, 2023Rumspringa Prom Date - Jonah and the Lancaster High co-ed bowling team finished Saturday practice and were packing up. Jonah had been checking out a very comely, well-scrubbed girl his own age intently watching the practice. He smiled. She smiled. Jonah walked to her table. “Hi. I’m Jonah.” Up close, he wondered how he’d not noticed her at school. “Hello, I’m Sarah.” She gazed at him directly with a Mona Lisa smile. Her blouse and slacks were simple, possibly handmade, and totally fetching. “Um...would you like to come bowl? A Coke?. Then we’re like hitting the movies next door.” Sarah giggled, “I’ve never bowled, had a Coke, or seen a movie. I would love to try them all once.” “Well, um, great.....c’mon...you live around here?” “Not far. On a farm, outside Bird-in-Hand.” “Ah,” thought Jonah, “that explains it.”
Jason Abofsky
Jan. 9, 2023Helping the Homeless - Across the street from his church, Pastor Louis spotted a teenaged girl handing over a blanket to a homeless person. The act brought a smile to his face. She crossed the street, passing in front of him. "Did you help that homeless person in the name of God?" he asked. "No," she replied. "Did you help them to save your soul?" "No." "Did you help them because God commands it?" "No." The pastor frowned. "Then why bother helping them at all?" She looked up at the priest and answered, "God need not exist for someone to do the right thing.”
Cindy Herndon
Jan. 9, 2023Your Neighbor - “Let me help you, Mr. Thomas!” yelled fourteen-year-old Joseph as he dropped his bookbag and ran to the foot of the ladder. He had been on his way home from school when he saw the frail 78-yearold reaching precariously too far to clean out the gutters. “I’ve been doing this a long time. I don’t need any help,” he announced as the ladder wobbled. Curtis steadied it and urged him down. “Tell me how you want it done. I’ll do it your way.” Joseph was familiar with eccentricities. “I can’t pay you.” “You’re my neighbor. I just want to help.
James Burd Brewster
Jan. 9, 2023Anchor’s Aweigh - “Avast there,” shouted the teenager wearing a Pea Coat. The two kids glaring at each other stared at him. “Heave to,” he said as he approached them and put a hand on each boy’s shoulder. “Why,” asked the smaller boy. “He started it.” “I like the cut of your jib,” the teenager said. “You got tar. How old are you boy? “10,” he replied. The teenager smiled, “I got a fathom on you. You two shipmates?” “You mean friends?” asked the taller boy. “Aye.” “Yes,” he replied. “You need to keep a weather eye. Look off to starboard.” Both boys looked and began to run.
Doris Brady
Jan. 9, 2023AMARA - “Come in, Amara,” my grandmother yelled when I knocked on her door. It was the eve of my 13th birthday and she had a surprise for me. Placing a cylindrical leather-bound bundle on a table, she explained. “I have chosen you to be the keeper of our family’s heritage. This belonged to my father, your great grandfather. It contains many things he used as a spiritual healer.” Grandmother unrolled the bundle. There were beautiful, beaded necklaces, varnished gourds, pottery, and a clay pipe. Filled with pride, I closed my eyes and imagined my great grandfather standing in the midst of his people, dressed in ceremonial garb.
Steve Baker
Jan. 9, 2023CHARITABLE APPRECIATION - Murry was no longer living in his parent’s basement. TV benders and cold pizza for breakfast had turned into gainful employment and paying taxes. For help with "claiming dependents" Murry turned to a bean counter named Bob-From-Accounting. When Bob-From-Accounting poured over Murry's files he noticed something odd and began to lecture Murry. "You're donating over a quarter of your income to the Salvation Army and someplace called "The House of Living Water"...What is that?...a Chinese carry-out!?!?...YOU SHOULDN'T BE GIVING AWAY SO MUCH MONEY!!!" Murry defended his cause by quoting a bold man named Jim Elliot: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.