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Sharon M. Draper Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

Sharon M. Draper

Sharon M. Draper

How to pronounce Sharon M. Draper: Last name rhymes with paper

Sharon M. Draper Biography

Sharon Mills Draper (Mills was her maiden name) is a two-time Coretta Scott King Award-winning author for Copper Sun, and Forged by Fire. She's also the recipient of the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Author Award for New Talent for Tears of a Tiger and the Coretta Scott King Author Honor for The Battle of Jericho and November Blues. Her other books include Romiette and Julio, Darkness Before Dawn, and Double Dutch. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she taught high school English for twenty-five years. She's a popular conference speaker, addressing educational and literary groups both nationally and internationally.

Sharon M. Draper's website

This bio was last updated on 10/24/2016. In a perfect world, we would like to keep all of BookBrowse's biographies up to date, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's simply impossible to do. So, if the date of this bio is not recent, you may wish to do an internet search for a more current source, such as the author's website or social media presence. If you are the author or publisher and would like us to update this biography, send the complete text and we will replace the old with the new.

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Interview

Sharon Draper, two-time Coretta Scott King Award-winning author, talks about herself and her thoughts on books and writing.

Revealing Questions

How would you describe your life in only 8 words?
learner teacher wife mom grammy writer encourager inspirer

What is your motto or maxim?
I learned to dream through reading, learned to create dreams through writing, and learned to develop dreamers through teaching. I shall always be a dreamer. Come dream with me.

How would you describe perfect happiness?
Perfect happiness is a beautiful sunset, the giggle of a grandchild, the first snowfall. It's the little things that make happy moments, not the grand events. Joy comes in sips, not gulps.

What's your greatest fear?
Water. Deep water. I can't swim. Yet I love the beach. I like to LOOK at the water, not get in it!

If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you choose to be?
At home.

With whom in history do you most identify?
I'm not sure if identify is the right word, but I have a great deal of respect for Zora Neale Hurston whose writing is brilliant and whose path was difficult.

Which living person do you most admire?
My parents. And Barack Obama.

What are your most overused words or phrases?
Actually, I use actually too much.

...

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Books by this Author

Books by Sharon M. Draper at BookBrowse
Panic jacket Out of My Mind jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Sharon M. Draper but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Gennifer Choldenko

    Gennifer Choldenko

    Gennifer Choldenko's first novel, Notes from a Liar and Her Dog, was a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year and a California Book Award winner. Her second novel, Al Capone Does My Shirts, was a Newbery Honor Book and ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    Out of My Mind

    Try:
    If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period
    by Gennifer Choldenko

  • Peter Dickinson

    Peter Dickinson

    Peter Dickinson, born in 1927, has written more than fifty novels for adults and young readers; and has won both the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children's Award twice.

    He is a tall, elderly, bony, beaky, ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    Out of My Mind

    Try:
    Inside Grandad
    by Peter Dickinson

We recommend 6 similar authors

View all 6 Read-Alikes

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  • and much more!
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  • More about membership!

Top Picks

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    Lynda Cohen Loigman's delightful novel The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern opens in 1987. The titular ...
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    Small Rain
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    At the beginning of Garth Greenwell's novel Small Rain, the protagonist, an unnamed poet in his ...

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