{"product_id":"9781565122727","title":"First Words: Earliest Writing from Favorite Contemporary Authors","description":"\u003cbr\u003eMost kid write stories. A few of them grow up to be successful authors. Before Stephen King created \u003ci\u003eCarrie\u003c\/i\u003e, he created Jhonathan, at age nine. And before there was Rabbit Angstrom, there was Manuel Citarro, detective in John Updike's hard-boiled mystery, written at fourteen. Before \u003ci\u003eJurassic Park\u003c\/i\u003e, there was young Michael Crichton's story about the mysteriously wounded man lying unattended in the street.\u003cp\u003e Editor Paul Mandelbaum persuaded our most popular American authors to share their childhood writings and their treasured photographs. What he's gathered is a fascinating, delightful collection of writing and early snapshots that reveal young minds at work, wrestling with early versions of ideas that were to take hold of their writings in later years. Of course, the young Madeline L'Engle would wonder about space and the meaning of eternity. Of course, Margaret Atwood would question conventional female behavior, arguing for the right to smoke cigars.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eFirst Words\u003c\/i\u003e is an inspiration to budding writers and enthusiastic teachers, and a revelation for readers everywhere.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e This revised and condensed edition includes the following writers:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Margaret Atwood\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Roy Blount, Jr.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Paul Bowles\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Pat Conroy\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Michael Crichton\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Rita Dove\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Clyde Edgerton\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Gail Godwin\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Allan Gurganus\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Charles Johnson\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Stephen King\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Maxine Hong Kingston\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Ursula LeGuin\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Madeleine L'Engle\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Jill McCorkle\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Norman Mailer\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Joyce Carol Oates\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e William Styron\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Amy Tan\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e John Updike\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Gore Vidal\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Tobias Wolff\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47054114586864,"sku":"9781565122727","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781565122727_p0.jpg?v=1763767310","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781565122727","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}