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Ronald Koertge

Born: 1940 in Olney, Illinois
Pen Name: None

Connection to Illinois: Koertge was born in Olney.

Biography: Ron Koertge teaches at Hamline University in their low-residency MFA program for Childrens Writing. A prolific writer, he has published widely in such seminal magazines as Kayak and Poetry Now. He is a contributor to many anthologies, such as Billy Collinss ''Poetry 180'' and Kirby & Hambys ''Seriously Funny''. Koertge also writes fiction for teenagers, including many novels-in-verse. All were honored by the American Library Association and two received PEN awards. He is the recipient of grants from the NEA and the California Arts Council, and has poems in two volumes of Best American Poetry. His poem, Negative Space, was created into a film short and nominated for an 2018 Academy Award - for Best Animated Short. Koertge currently resides in South Pasadena, California.


Awards:
  • American Library Association- Best Books for Young Adults, and many others.

Primary Audience(s): Children; Children; Young adult readers

Email: info@ronkoertge.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RonKoertge
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ronkoertge
Website: https://ronkoertge.com/
Ronald Koertge on WorldCat : http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=ronald+koertge


Selected Titles

100 things to write about /
ISBN: 0673982394 OCLC: 49232288

Longman, [New York?] : ©1999.

  And through the woods
ISBN: 9780981713618 OCLC: 424502257

World Parade Books, Huntington Beach, CA : ©2009.

Boy girl boy
ISBN: 9780152058654 OCLC: 57344136

Harcourt Children's Books, Orlando, Fla : ©2005.

Three troubled high school seniors, who plan to run away together from Illinois to California after graduation, try to figure out who they are who they want to be.

Coaltown Jesus
ISBN: 9780763667108 OCLC: 905238688

Walker shouldn't have been so surprised to find Jesus standing in the middle of his bedroom. After all, he'd prayed for whoever was up there to help him, and to help his mom, who hadn't stopped crying since Noah died two months ago. But since when have prayers actually been answered? And since when has Jesus been so . . . irreverent? But as astounding as Jesus' sudden appearance is, it's going to take more than divine intervention for Walker to come to terms with his brother's sudden death. Why would God take seventeen-year-old Noah when half of the residents in his mom's nursing home were waiting to die? And why would he send Jesus to Coaltown, Illinois, to pick up the pieces? In a spare and often humorous text, renowned poet Ron Koertge tackles some of life's biggest questions⁰́₄and humanizes the divine savior in a way that highlights the divinity in all of us.

Coaltown Jesus /
ISBN: 0763662283 OCLC: 825046579

"Walker shouldn't have been so surprised to find Jesus standing in the middle of his bedroom. After all, he'd prayed for whoever was up there to help him, and to help his mom, who hadn't stopped crying since Noah died two months ago. But since when have prayers actually been answered? And since when has Jesus been so irreverent?"--Amazon.com.

Deadville /
ISBN: 0763635804 OCLC: 212856823

Candlewick Press, Cambridge, Mass. : 2008.

While visiting an injured classmate in the hospital, sixteen-year-old Ryan, who is trying to come to terms with his sister's death from cancer, meets a young patient who claims to be able to see into the world where the dead live.

Fever :
ISBN: 1597090166 OCLC: 77010124

Red Hen Press, Los Angeles, Calif. : ©2006.

  Fresh meat /
ISBN: 0918298067 OCLC: 8214853

Kenmore Press, Winter Haven, Fla. : ©1981.

Geography of the forehead /
ISBN: 1557286116 OCLC: 44518094

University of Arkansas Press, Fayetteville : 2000.

  High school dirty poems :
ISBN: 0962284769 OCLC: 29220829

Red Wind Books, Los Angeles : 1991.

  How to live on five dollars a week, etc. :
ISBN: 091266407X OCLC: 6022113

VPC Press, Los Angeles : ©1977.

Indigo :
ISBN: 1597094676 OCLC: 867794999

Red Hen Press, Los Angeles : ©2009.

Indigo :
ISBN: 9781597094672 OCLC: 436029148

Red Hen Press, Los Angeles : ©2009.

Lies, knives and girls in red dresses
ISBN: 9780763644062 OCLC: 758389107

Candlewick Press, Somerville, Mass. : 2012.

Free-verse reveals true stories behind well-known fairy tales, some reset in modern times, as a strung-out match girl sells CDs to drug users, Little Red Riding Hood admits that she wanted to know what it is like to be swallowed whole, and Cinderella's stepsisters are duped.

Life on the edge of the continent :
ISBN: 0938626043 OCLC: 7773529

University of Arkansas Press, Fayetteville : 1982.

Making love to Roget's wife :
ISBN: 155728461X OCLC: 35115023

University of Arkansas Press, Fayetteville, Ark. : 1997.

In plain, unpretentious language, with brutal honesty, Ron Koertge can meld violence, love, human ugliness, joy, and modern depravity into a short lyric that makes us laugh out loud or socks us in the gut. His images arrive in giant clown shoes - cigars the size of Florida, the plastic man's counter-length arms - or neatly packaged in carefully observed detail, as he writes of the "black little hearts" of ants or an ape's "dark and leathery breast." Through every poem, there runs a constant and sincere humanity, a voice that laughs at itself, often goads us a bit, but always stuns and enlightens us when we discover something of ourselves gambling with the crowd at the racetrack, driving from the parking lot of the Mexican restaurant, or shambling with the distraught parent leaving the hospital.

Margaux with an X /
ISBN: 0763626791 OCLC: 71121550

Candlewick Press, Cambridge, Mass. : 2006.

Margaux, known as a "tough chick" at her Los Angeles high school, makes a connection with Danny, who, like her, struggles with the emotional impact of family violence and abuse.

Mariposa blues
ISBN: 0380717611 OCLC: 27637076

Avon Books, New York : [1993], ©1991.

  Men under fire /
ISBN: 0916918025 OCLC: 3347048

Duck Down Press, Fallon, Nev. : ©1976.

Now playing :
ISBN: 0763650811 OCLC: 689858480

Candlewick Press, Somerville, Mass. : 2011.

High schooler Ben Bancroft, a budding filmmaker with cerebral palsy, struggles to understand his relationship with drug-addict Colleen while he explores a new friendship with A.J., who shares his obsession with movies and makes a good impression on Ben's grandmother.

  Now playing :
ISBN: 9781455820566 OCLC: 714734056

Brilliance Audio, Grand Haven, Mich. : ℗2011.

High schooler Ben Bancroft, a budding filmmaker with cerebral palsy, struggles to understand his relationship with drug-addict Colleen while he explores a new friendship with A.J., who shares his obsession with movies.

Sex world :
ISBN: 9781597097475 OCLC: 881146155

Presents a collection of flash fiction also known as sudden fiction, micro-fiction, and postcard fiction--short stories meant to be read in a hurry.

Shakespeare Bats Cleanup.
ISBN: 9781442003200 OCLC: 303019361

Paw Prints 2009.

Shakespeare makes the playoffs
ISBN: 9780763658526 OCLC: 320696995

Candlewick Press, Somerville, Mass. : 2010.

Fourteen-year-old Kevin Boland, poet and first baseman, is torn between his cute girlfriend Mira and Amy, who is funny, plays Chopin on the piano, and is also a poet.

  Stoner & Spaz
ISBN: 9780307582621 OCLC: 682887494

Listening Library, New York : 2009.

For sixteen-year-old Ben Bancroft - a kid with cerebral palsy, no parents, and an overprotective grandmother - the closest thing to happiness is hunkering alone in the back of the Rialto Theatre and watching Bride of Frankenstein for the umpteenth time. The last person he wants to run into is drugged-up Colleen Minou, resplendent in ripped tights, neon miniskirt, and an impressive array of tattoos ...

Stoner & Spaz /
ISBN: 0763657573 OCLC: 47665231

Candlewick Press, Cambridge, MA : 2002.

A troubled youth with cerebral palsy struggles toward self-acceptance with the help of a drug-addicted young woman.

  Strays
ISBN: 9781406345513 OCLC: 853435695

Walker Books, London : 2012.

Strays /
ISBN: 0763643777 OCLC: 665066731

Candlewick Press, Cambridge, Mass. : 2010, ©2007.

Recently orphaned, sixteen-year-old Ted O'Connor is sent to a foster home.

The Arizona kid
ISBN: 1844282988 OCLC: 64555727

Walker, London : 2006.

The Arizona kid /
ISBN: 0763626953 OCLC: 57352801

Candlewick, Cambridge, Mass. : 2005.

Sixteen-year-old Billy spends the summer with his gay uncle in Tucson and works at a racetrack, where he falls in love with an outspoken horse exerciser named Cara Mae.

  The boogeyman
ISBN: 0393012964 OCLC: 5171090

Norton, New York : 1980.

  The boy in the moon
ISBN: 0380714744 OCLC: 26373556

Avon Books, New York, NY : ©1990.

High school senior Nick feels his universe breaking up around him as his relationship with his two lifelong friends Kevin and Frieda threatens to change.

  The Harmony Arms
ISBN: 0606064494 OCLC: 25130900

Demco Media 1992

The Harmony Arms
ISBN: 0380721880 OCLC: 31070682

Avon, New York : ©1994.

Fifteen-year-old Gabriel is continually embarrassed by his teacher/writer father, but when he goes to live with him in Los Angeles in an apartment complex full of unusual characters, Gabriel gains new insights into himself and his father.

  The jockey poems
ISBN: 0917554124 OCLC: 7533721

Maelstrom Press, Long Beach, Calif. : 1980.

The ogre's wife :
ISBN: 9781597097239 OCLC: 828834165

Ron Koertge wants to do nothing but delight. Armed with his trademark wit, he introduces readers to Little Red Riding Hood all grown up with a fondness for salsa and chips, explores the thorny relationship of Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese, spies a Trojan pony and the children it bamboozles, and offers an alternate reading to the Icarus story. He meets Walt Whitman on the set of an X-rated movie, attends his gardener's funeral, and goes to his beloved race track. Seminal figures from pop mythology speak up in unexpected ways: The Beast, transformed by Beauty, hints that his new life isn't exactly what he expected. Gretel enrolls in night school, the ogre's wife from the beanstalk yarn writes a heart-rending story on her cutting board, and a group of fourth-graders on a field trip encounters Death. Occasionally setting aside free verse, there are couplets about a Bette Davis movie, a sestina about routine blood tests, a villanelle set in a topless bar, and a set of haibun that chronicles an entire day. Reverend Ike and John Lennon said, Whatever gets you through the night. This book will do just that and carry you right on in to the next day, guaranteed.

  Tiger, tiger, burning bright
ISBN: 038072474X OCLC: 33631271

Avon Books, New York : 1995, ©1994.

Worried that his mother will send his beloved grandfather to a nursing home for his own good, Jesse and some of his eighth-grade classmates accompany Pappy into the mountains near their small California town to look for the tiger tracks he claims to have seen.

Vampire planet
ISBN: 9781597097604 OCLC: 961408505

Red Hen Press, Pasadena, CA : 2016.

Ron Koertge wants to do nothing but delight. Armed with wit and brains, he introduces readers to Dr. Frankenstein's frustrated fiancee and gives an alternate reading to the Bible story about Lot's nameless wife. He rues the loss of a favorite pair of underpants, attends a bachelor party where Mr. Magoo makes an appearance, and suggests what cheerleaders will be like in the future. Bashful, one of the seven dwarfs, spills the beans about Snow White. Death comes home from a business trip to his favorite meal, and Epeius--who designed the Trojan horse--turns out to be a better architect than a warrior. Saint George muses about girls, and on her honeymoon Mrs. Mark Trail wishes her husband would take his eyes off that moose get down to business. In a sestina, Ron probes the psyches of the Hardy boys. A half dozen charming couplets tell about an experience at a local car wash, and a domestic reveals the secret life of clothes. Like Reverend Ike and John Lennon said, Whatever gets you through the night--This book will do that and carry you right into the next day. Guaranteed--

Where the kissing never stops
ISBN: 9781844282876 OCLC: 62089298

Walker Books, London : 2006.

While trying to cope with his father's death, his mother's new job as a stripper, and his own libido, high-school junior Walker meets a new girl who makes life seem pretty wonderful after all.

Where the kissing never stops /
ISBN: 0380717964 OCLC: 27636849

Avon Books, New York : [1993], ©1986.

While trying to cope with his father's death, his mother's new job as a stripper, and his own libido, high-school junior Walker meets a new girl who makes life seem pretty wonderful after all.

Where the kissing never stops /
ISBN: 0763626961 OCLC: 57352800

Candlewick Press, Cambridge, Mass. : 2005.

While trying to cope with his father's death, his mother's new job as a stripper, and his own libido, high-school junior Walker meets a new girl who makes life seem pretty wonderful after all.

  Yellow moving van
ISBN: 9780822986201 OCLC: 1049857796

Ron Koertge's Yellow Moving Van is a collection of relaxed and buoyant and sometimes very funny poems that address Desi & Lucy with the same courtesy as Walt Whitman. The author celebrates his roots in the Mid-West and a few pages later stops off in Transylvania. These poems like to sometimes embrace and sometimes confound expectations, and they all stand together as enemies of the murky and pompous. There is apparently no subject -- Prometheus, a fifty foot woman, or Death himself -- that is unwilling to fall under his spell.

 

 

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