UNITED KINGDOM AUTHOR · CHILDREN · FICTION
Anne Fine
Also known as: Fine, Anne, ANNE FINE
Anne Fine (born 7 December 1947) is an English writer. She is best known for writing children's books, although she also writes for adults. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and she was appointed an OBE in 2003. Fine has written more than seventy children's books, including two winners of the annual Carnegie Medal and three highly commended runners-up. For some of those five books she also won the Guardian Prize, one Smarties Prize, two Whitbread Awards, and she was twice the Children's Author of the Year.
IT WAS NOON on a bright-blue autumn day in early October of the war year 1942.
— from Countdown, 2009
Most acclaimed
Poor Monty
Although Monty's mother, tired from her long day of work as a doctor, wants to put up her feet and rest, he is not feeling well and needs her both as a mom and as a doctor.
Step by Wicked Step
One stormy night, five stranded schoolchildren uncover the story of Richard Clayton Harwick — a boy who many years ago learned what it was like to have a truly wicked stepfather. But the children have stories of their own step-parents to tell — stories that have warmth and humour, as well as sadness, and a fair share of happy endings.
Countdown
2009
A powerful investigation into the chances for humanity's future from the author of the bestseller The World Without Us. In his bestselling book The World Without Us, Alan Weisman considered how the Earth could heal and even refill empty niches if relieved of humanity's constant pressures. Behind that groundbreaking thought experiment was his hope that we would be inspired to find a way to add humans back to this vision of a restored, healthy planet-only in harmony, not mortal combat, with the rest of nature. But with a million more of us every 4 1/2 days on a planet that's not getting any bigger, and with our exhaust overheating the atmosphere and altering the chemistry of the oceans, prospects for a sustainable human future seem ever more in doubt. For this long awaited follow-up book, Weisman traveled to more than 20 countries to ask what experts agreed were probably the most important questions on Earth--and also the hardest: How many humans can the planet hold without capsizing? How robust must the Earth's ecosystem be to assure our continued existence? Can we know which other species are essential to our survival? And, how might we actually arrive at a stable, optimum population, and design an economy to allow genuine prosperity without endless growth? Weisman visits an extraordinary range of the world's cultures, religions, nationalities, tribes, and political systems to learn what in their beliefs, histories, liturgies, or current circumstances might suggest that sometimes it's in their own best interest to limit their growth. The result is a landmark work of reporting: devastating, urgent, and, ultimately, deeply hopeful. By vividly detailing the burgeoning effects of our cumulative presence, Countdown reveals what may be the fastest, most acceptable, practical, and affordable way of returning our planet and our presence on it to balance. Weisman again shows that he is one of the most provocative journalists at work today, with a book whose message is so compelling that it will change how we see our lives and our destiny.