BREATHLESS, by Lurlene McDaniel

My novel, PREY, has been chosen as part of the International Reading Association’s Young Adults’ Choices 2010 booklist!

les on the list

Here’s the official letter from the IRA, as well as a link to all the book tit

Growing up, Lurlene McDaniel lived in different parts of the country because her father was in the Navy. Eventually her family settled in Florida. She attended the University of South Florida in Tampa, where she earned a B.A. in English.

"The importance of my old life is dimming as I move toward the bright light I've seen once before. It's allowing me to come to it, and this time, I won't be sent back. If only the people I'm leaving behind could understand! There is no sadness where I'm going. Only joy." — Lurlene McDaniel (Hit and Run)

"Sisters are made by living everyday with each other and wearing each other down until the rough spots are smooth. They're made by sharing secrets you'd never tell mom, and out of doing things for each other just because you feel like it, not because you have to. I guess you could say sisters are 'grown,' not manufactured, in a very special place called a family." — Lurlene McDaniel (Somewhere Between Life and Death)

Awards: Rita Awards Best Novel winner (1992) : Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep.

Lurlene McDaniel was born on April 5, 1944 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States.

She was born in

She is also a aries

Philedelphia Pennsylvania

I'm Lurlene McDaniel and I've been writing for this market for a l-o-n-g time, and am still loving it. I'm called the "crying and dying" lady by librarians, and I write bittersweet stories, mostly about medical issues.

She attended the University of South Florida in Tampa, where she earned a B.A. in English.

To make certain that her books are medically accurate, McDaniel conducts extensive research. She interviews health care professionals and works with appropriate medical groups and hospice organizations, as well as the Tennessee Organ Donor Services. "I study medicine and traditional grief therapy techniques to give the novels a sense of serious medical reality," she says. "I also study the Bible to instill the human element --- the values and ethics often overlooked by the coldness of technology."

McDaniel began writing about young adults when her son Sean was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at the age of 3. His illness changed the lives of everyone in her family forever. "I saw what life was like for someone who was chronically ill, and I experienced how it affected the dynamics of the family," says McDaniel. She says she found that writing about the trauma and its effects was therapeutic

McDaniel has written over 40 novels about kids who face life-threatening illnesses, who sometimes do not survive. These are powerful, inspirational stories about courage, love, and strength in the face of overwhelming trauma. McDaniel’s books touch the hearts and spirits of the teenagers and adults who read them. Her following is a devoted group of appreciative fans. McDaniel says: “These are books that challenge you and make you think