Stephen King : His Life, Work, and Influences (Young Readers' Edition)

A thrilling visual companion curated for young adults voraciously reading their way through Stephen King’s colossal corpus of creepy books.

For many young readers, when the last page of Goosebumps is turned, the first chapter of Pet Sematary begins, and a world of terror crafted by Stephen King is revealed. His novels are as fascinating as his life, and in this ultimate illustrated guidebook, young readers explore the cultural phenomenon and legacy of the King of Horror.

From scare-seeking child to impoverished university student to struggling schoolteacher to one of the best-selling—and most recognizable—authors of all time, this engrossing book reveals the evolution and influences of Stephen King’s body of work over his nearly 50-year career, and how the themes of his writing reflect the changing times and events within his life.

With tons of photos, approachable bite-size sections, and gripping details to captivate young readers, the book features:

• An extensive look into Stephen King’s books, short stories, writings, movies, series, and other adaptations ideal for the young reader to review.
• Exclusive memorabilia from Stephen King, including personal and professional correspondences, handwritten manuscript pages, book covers, movie stills, and a never-before-seen excerpts from his poems.
• Personal insights and observations such as real-life settings that inspired King’s writing, the editor who discovered him, his life as a Boston Red Sox fan, and the many awards and honors he has received.
• Motivating quotes from King from interviews over the decades.

“My childhood was pretty ordinary, except from a very early age I wanted to be scared…there was a radio program at the time called Dimension X, and my mother didn’t want me to listen to that because she felt it was too scary for me, so I would creep out of bed and go to the bedroom door and crack it open. And she loved it, so apparently, I got it from her, but I would listen at the door and then when the program was over, I’d go back to bed and quake.” —Stephen King

Young adults will covet this comprehensive yet accessible reference to their favorite horror author.

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Everyone in the Western world knows the name 'Stephen King', whether they've read his books or not. Everyone knows Carrie and Christine and Annie Wilkes. Adapted for teen readers, this fascinating volume looks at the life and times of Stephen, the events that inspired him, and even talks about some of the books he didn't write.

There's no great detail on most of the books - covering more than 200 novels and short stories in less than 100 pages means everything is dealt with very quickly - but it's really interesting to read the progression of his work and see what order things were written in. Not always the same as the order they were published in! Reading about his shared universe is also great - I've read my share of his books but missed some of the connections.

I'd love to read the adult version of this book sometime and see what was left out, but this doesn't feel pared down or shorted in any way. A brilliant book for any teen Stephen fan.