Fullerton, Alma 1969-

views updated

Fullerton, Alma 1969-

PERSONAL:

Born June 7, 1969, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; married; husband's name Claude; children: two daughters. Education: Attended college.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Midland, Ontario, Canada. E-mail—almafullerton@almafullerton.com.

CAREER:

Writer.

MEMBER:

Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Canadian Society of Children's Authors, Illustrators, and Performers, Writers' Union of Canada.

WRITINGS:

In the Garage (young adult novel), Red Deer Press (Red Deer, Alberta, Canada), 2006.

Walking on Glass (young adult novel), HarperTempest (New York, NY), 2007.

Author of a blog.

SIDELIGHTS:

Writer Alma Fullerton was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, but moved several times growing up due to her father's job with the military, spending the majority of her young adulthood in Comox, British Columbia, where she attended high school. After graduation, she lived in Germany for a year with her sister and her husband, which is where she met her own future husband, Claude, who was also a military man at the time. As newlyweds, they settled briefly back in Comox, then moved to a series of towns in Canada ranging from Nova Scotia to Borden, Ontario, before ultimately ending up in Midland, where they remained after Claude retired from his military post. Fullerton began writing as a child, and maintained her love of storytelling as she grew older. Even while moving house and raising two daughters, she continued to work on her craft, writing stories, poetry, and articles, and eventually beginning to publish in area magazines. Her first novel, In the Garage, was published in 2006 by Red Deer Press. Told partially in verse and partially in prose, it recounts the experiences of a teenage girl, Barbara Jean Belanger, who suffers as the victim of endless teasing and abuse at the hands of her classmates, who single her out for her obvious low self-esteem brought on by a port wine birthmark that mars her face along with a weight problem. Yet, despite her lack of popularity, she is best friends with a boy named Alex, and it is the upheaval within this relationship and Barbara's betrayal of that friendship that advances Fullerton's book. Jen Waters, reviewing for the CM Magazine Online, commented: "With its alternating voices of male and female characters …, Fullerton has written a novel that will likely be well received by high school teens of both genders."

Walking on Glass, Fullerton's next novel, deals with equally difficult issues. Written entirely in verse this time, the book takes the form of a journal in which a teen boy unburdens his feelings regarding his mother's suicide attempt and subsequent coma—a condition that is permanent. The boy struggles with many issues, including his guilt over not coming home earlier or telling his mother that he loved her, his father's inability to let his wife go, and the awareness that his mother would never have wished to linger on life support. A contributor for Kirkus Reviews had a mixed reaction to the book, stating: "A real page-turner, it never finds real traction on any substantive issue." Paula Rohrlick, in a review for Kliatt, remarked: "This is heavy stuff, told in a direct and heart-wrenching fashion: exaggerated, perhaps, but effective."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 1, 2006, Rachel Rochman, review of Walking on Glass, p. 41.

Kirkus Reviews, December 1, 2006, review of Walking on Glass, p. 1220.

Kliatt, January, 2007, Paula Rohrlick, review of Walking on Glass, p. 12; September, 2007, Holley Wiseman, review of In the Garage, p. 22.

Publishers Weekly, January 29, 2007, review of Walking on Glass, p. 73.

Resource Links, April, 2007, Myra Junyk, review of In the Garage, p. 43.

School Library Journal, April, 2007, Sheilah Kosco, review of Walking on Glass, p. 134; November, 2007, Lynn Rashid, review of In the Garage, p. 122.

Voice of Youth Advocates, June, 2007, Lucy Schall, review of Walking on Glass, p. 140.