When I Was Your Age ─ Original Stories About Growing Up

Perfect for literature classes and beginning writers of all ages!

"Tell me a story of when you were little" is something children love to ask. Now ten award-winning writers: Mary Pope Osborne, Laurence Yep, James Howe, Katherine Paterson, Walter Dean Myers, Susan Cooper, Nicholasa Mohr, Reeve Lindbergh, Avi, and Francesca Lia Block tell young readers stories drawn from their own childhood memories. The authors have also contributed notes about why they chose particular memories to write about and what in their lives led them to be writers. In this way, the extraordinary stories in WHEN I WAS YOUR AGE bear witness to the origins of a writer’s art—and honor the courage, tenderness, and fragility of children.

Amy Ehrlich, the editor of WHEN I WAS YOUR AGE, notes that "writing begins with observation. The authors in this collection, like all children, felt things deeply. But they were also able to observe their feelings and therefore remember them well. Those memories are a writer's most durable tool." Amy Ehrlich is the author of more than 25 books for young readers.