Carol Plum-Ucci is a young adult novelist, freelance
writer, ghost writer, critic, speech writer, and essayist.
Plum-Ucci’s most famous work to date is The Body of
Christopher Creed, for which she won a Michael L.
Printz Honor Book Award in 2002 and was named a
finalist to the Edgar Allan Poe Award. Describing her
subjects as "the most common, timeless, and most
heart-felt teenagers," Plum-Ucci is widely recognized for
her use of the South Jersey shore to set scenes for
engaging characters embracing suspense themes.
Plum-Ucci’s fiction utterly reflects her roots as a South
Jersey islander. The Body of Christopher Creed was
set in the Pine Barrens, siding up to the South Jersey
back bays that conjoin the mainland to the barrier
islands. What Happened to Lani Garver, The She, and
The Night My Sister Went Missing all take place on
barrier islands, which Plum-Ucci confesses are
derivatives of her home base, Brigantine.
Streams of Babel takes place in a mainland town
behind Atlantic City. Because the book has to do with a
terrorist attack and residents balked when they heard
their town’s name associated with such a memorable
yet terrifying concept, Plum-Ucci changed its name to
the fictional Trinity Falls.
Her inspiration for The Night My Sister Went Missing
was an abandoned pier that used to sit on the 38th
Street beach in Brigantine, when Plum-Ucci was a
teenage beach tag inspector in the late 1970s. ‘I used
to stand under those rotted-out pilings, look up at the
rotted out boards and think what a gas it would be to be
able to go up there and party with my friends,’ she said.
The Night My Sister Went Missing features that pier—
now under the sand after much beach protection
efforts—with a party of teens, a lot of clowning around—
and a small gun.
By late 2008, Plum-Ucci had received seven citations
from YALSA, the young adult division of the American
Library Association, including Quik Piks for Reluctant
Readers (The Night My Sister Went Missing), Most
Popular Paperback List (What Happened to Lani Garver
and The Body of Christopher Creed), Top Ten Best
Books for Young Adults (What Happened to Lani
Garver), Best Books for Young Adults (What Happened
to Lani Garver and The Body of Christopher Creed,
nomination of The She and Streams of Babel), and the
Michael L. Printz Honor Book Award (The Body of
Christopher Creed, and nomination of What Happened
to Lani Garver).
What Happened to Lani Garver was named Editor’s #1
Choice for Young Adult Literature on Amazon in 2002.
Plum-Ucci received her bachelor’s in communication
from Purdue University in 1979 and her master’s from
Rutgers. After Purdue, Plum-Ucci was a freelance
writer in the Chicago area for several years. She
became Assistant to the Producer of the Miss America
Pageant in Atlantic City in 1984. She later served as
Staff Writer and Director of Publications of the Miss
America Organization and Miss America Scholarship
Foundation, producing up to a dozen publications a
year for volunteers and participants. Plum-Ucci retired
in 1999, two months after receiving her first advance on
royalties from The Body of Christopher Creed from
Harcourt.
Plum-Ucci has ghost written for six Miss Americas, two
CEOs and others who are nameless by discretion. Her
many professional awards include a Dalton Penn
Award and two Iris Awards for excellence in Miss
America publications. She was a recipient of a Kneale
Award in Journalism from Purdue University.
Plum-Ucci has two children and currently lives in
Southern New Jersey, with her husband, Rick.
.
writer, ghost writer, critic, speech writer, and essayist.
Plum-Ucci’s most famous work to date is The Body of
Christopher Creed, for which she won a Michael L.
Printz Honor Book Award in 2002 and was named a
finalist to the Edgar Allan Poe Award. Describing her
subjects as "the most common, timeless, and most
heart-felt teenagers," Plum-Ucci is widely recognized for
her use of the South Jersey shore to set scenes for
engaging characters embracing suspense themes.
Plum-Ucci’s fiction utterly reflects her roots as a South
Jersey islander. The Body of Christopher Creed was
set in the Pine Barrens, siding up to the South Jersey
back bays that conjoin the mainland to the barrier
islands. What Happened to Lani Garver, The She, and
The Night My Sister Went Missing all take place on
barrier islands, which Plum-Ucci confesses are
derivatives of her home base, Brigantine.
Streams of Babel takes place in a mainland town
behind Atlantic City. Because the book has to do with a
terrorist attack and residents balked when they heard
their town’s name associated with such a memorable
yet terrifying concept, Plum-Ucci changed its name to
the fictional Trinity Falls.
Her inspiration for The Night My Sister Went Missing
was an abandoned pier that used to sit on the 38th
Street beach in Brigantine, when Plum-Ucci was a
teenage beach tag inspector in the late 1970s. ‘I used
to stand under those rotted-out pilings, look up at the
rotted out boards and think what a gas it would be to be
able to go up there and party with my friends,’ she said.
The Night My Sister Went Missing features that pier—
now under the sand after much beach protection
efforts—with a party of teens, a lot of clowning around—
and a small gun.
By late 2008, Plum-Ucci had received seven citations
from YALSA, the young adult division of the American
Library Association, including Quik Piks for Reluctant
Readers (The Night My Sister Went Missing), Most
Popular Paperback List (What Happened to Lani Garver
and The Body of Christopher Creed), Top Ten Best
Books for Young Adults (What Happened to Lani
Garver), Best Books for Young Adults (What Happened
to Lani Garver and The Body of Christopher Creed,
nomination of The She and Streams of Babel), and the
Michael L. Printz Honor Book Award (The Body of
Christopher Creed, and nomination of What Happened
to Lani Garver).
What Happened to Lani Garver was named Editor’s #1
Choice for Young Adult Literature on Amazon in 2002.
Plum-Ucci received her bachelor’s in communication
from Purdue University in 1979 and her master’s from
Rutgers. After Purdue, Plum-Ucci was a freelance
writer in the Chicago area for several years. She
became Assistant to the Producer of the Miss America
Pageant in Atlantic City in 1984. She later served as
Staff Writer and Director of Publications of the Miss
America Organization and Miss America Scholarship
Foundation, producing up to a dozen publications a
year for volunteers and participants. Plum-Ucci retired
in 1999, two months after receiving her first advance on
royalties from The Body of Christopher Creed from
Harcourt.
Plum-Ucci has ghost written for six Miss Americas, two
CEOs and others who are nameless by discretion. Her
many professional awards include a Dalton Penn
Award and two Iris Awards for excellence in Miss
America publications. She was a recipient of a Kneale
Award in Journalism from Purdue University.
Plum-Ucci has two children and currently lives in
Southern New Jersey, with her husband, Rick.
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| Copyright © 2007-08 Carol Plum-Ucci. All Rights Reserved. |