Ron Koertge

Author profile

gender

male

website

http://ronkoertge.com/

genre

Young Adult

About this author

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Ask Ron Koertge what he brings to the realm of young adult fiction, and the seasoned author responds matter-of-factly. "I write dialogue well, and I'm funny," he says--an assessment few would argue with. "I like iconoclasm and practice it in my fiction. I don't like pretense or hypocrisy. I'm almost always irreverent."

A faculty member for more than 35 years at Pasadena City College, where he has taught everything from Shakespeare to remedial writing, Ron Koertge is the author of several acclaimed novels, most of them for young adults. That Ron Koertge is a master at capturing teenagers' voices--often in witty repartee--is fully evident in MARGAUX WITH AN X, the story of a sharp-tongued beauty and a quirky, quick-witted loner. "MARGAUX WITH...more Ask Ron Koertge what he brings to the realm of young adult fiction, and the seasoned author responds matter-of-factly. "I write dialogue well, and I'm funny," he says--an assessment few would argue with. "I like iconoclasm and practice it in my fiction. I don't like pretense or hypocrisy. I'm almost always irreverent."

A faculty member for more than 35 years at Pasadena City College, where he has taught everything from Shakespeare to remedial writing, Ron Koertge is the author of several acclaimed novels, most of them for young adults. That Ron Koertge is a master at capturing teenagers' voices--often in witty repartee--is fully evident in MARGAUX WITH AN X, the story of a sharp-tongued beauty and a quirky, quick-witted loner. "MARGAUX WITH AN X started as a short story, but the heroine wouldn't let me alone," the author says. "She had a story to tell, and she wanted a whole novel to tell it in." Another unlikely pairing is found in STONER & SPAZ, Ron Koertge's funny, in-your-face tale of a young cinephile with cerebral palsy and the stoner who steals his heart. "My wife works with the disabled," the writer says of his inspiration for the novel, which quickly garnered critical acclaim. "One night she came home and told me about a young man she'd been working with. He had C.P. and a terrific sense of humor. Coincidentally, that day I had talked to a former student of mine who'd recently been in rehab for substance abuse. What would happen, I wondered, if those two knew each other?"

In addition to his young adult novels, Ron Koertge writes poetry, and has been dubbed "the wisest, most entertaining wiseguy in American poetry" by poet-laureate Billy Collins. SHAKESPEARE BATS CLEANUP is narrated by a straight-talking, fourteen-year-old first baseman who has been benched by mono and decides to take a swing at writing poetry. Written entirely in free verse, with examples of several poetic forms slipped into the mix--including a sonnet, haiku, pastoral, and even a pantoum--SHAKESPEARE BATS CLEANUP is a veritable English teacher's dream. "The interest in SHAKESPEARE BATS CLEANUP is less with the arc of the plot than with the individual poems, some of which demonstrate poetic form, some of which tell the story," the author says. "One of my biggest challenges was to write like a fourteen-year-old who has a knack for writing poetry, and not just sound like a sixty-one-year-old pretending to be one!"

The author's first book with Candlewick, THE BRIMSTONE JOURNALS, is also a novel written in free verse, with 15 different teenage characters narrating four or five poems each. "The book started to nag me a few months before the shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado, and I started to make notes in the form of poems," he says of the hauntingly prescient work. "BRIMSTONE needed to move at high velocity, and this form is perfect for that: no tail fins, no leather seats, no moon roof. Just get in and go."

Ron Koertge grew up in an agricultural area in an old mining town in Illinois, just across the Mississippi from St. Louis, Missouri. There he learned to "drive a tractor and buck hay bales, which are clearly useful skills in Los Angeles," he quips. He and his wife live in South Pasadena, California.
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16 posts
Ron Koertge's Blog

Ron Koertge isn't a Goodreads Author (yet), but he does have a blog, so here are some recent posts imported from his feed.

Audio Clips from TeachingBooks.net

Ron Koertge introduces and shares some of the backstory for creating Lies, Knives, and Girls in Red Dresses and reads “The Little, Small, Wee Bear.” Click here.

Also, hear Ron explain the proper pronunciation of his name. Click here.

View more on Ron Koertge's website »

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Published on May 10, 2012 09:13 • 2 views

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Books by Ron Koertge

Average rating: 3.54 · 3,392 ratings · 708 reviews · 37 distinct works

	Stoner & Spaz (Stoner & Spaz, #1) 3.60 avg rating — 1,177 ratings — published 2002 — 11 editions	My rating:
	Shakespeare Bats Cleanup (Shakespeare Bats Cleanup, #1) 3.69 avg rating — 318 ratings — published 2003 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Margaux with an X 3.31 avg rating — 244 ratings — published 2003 — 4 editions	My rating:
	Shakespeare Makes the Playoffs 3.84 avg rating — 160 ratings — published 2010 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Boy Girl Boy 3.06 avg rating — 189 ratings — published 2005 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Strays 3.28 avg rating — 181 ratings — published 2007 — 4 editions	My rating:
	The Brimstone Journals 3.42 avg rating — 169 ratings — 7 editions	My rating:
	Deadville 3.42 avg rating — 144 ratings — published 2008	My rating:
	The Arizona Kid 3.66 avg rating — 101 ratings — 7 editions	My rating:
	Now Playing: Stoner & Spaz II 3.42 avg rating — 98 ratings — published 2011 — 7 editions	My rating:

More books by Ron Koertge…

Series by Ron Koertge

Stoner & Spaz (2 books)
by Ron Koertge

3.58 avg rating — 1,275 ratings

Shakespeare Bats Cleanup (2 books)
by Ron Koertge

3.74 avg rating — 478 ratings

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Quotes by Ron Koertge

“You've got scars, you're beat up, you're a different person, but you're through it.”
― Ron Koertge, Deadville

7 people liked it

“Since I don't know where I'm going, I guess I'm in no real hurry to get there.”
― Ron Koertge, Where the Kissing Never Stops

7 people liked it

“I'm not a big fan of inspiration. I'm too old to sit and wait for the muse to give me a little kiss... I write a lot, and I'm not afraid to make mistakes or to write badly. I can alsways fix something weak and dull. But I can't fix a blank page.”
― Ron Koertge

tags: inspiration , writing

7 people liked it

See all Ron Koertge's quotes »

Polls

What frequently challenged or banned book for children and/or young adults should we read in December and January?

Girls and Sex by Wardell Baxter Pomeroy

27 votes, 25.7%

My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier

25 votes, 23.8%

Bumps in the Night by Harry G. Allard

22 votes, 21.0%

The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson

19 votes, 18.1%

The Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge

12 votes, 11.4%

105 total votes

5 comments

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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The Book Challenge: Jennifer's 2009 Book Challenge	19	299	Sep 01, 2009 03:42pm
The Book Challenge: 'Variety Is The Spice Of Life' Challenge	64	624	Jan 14, 2010 06:58am
The History Club: Kaylee's Reads	10	25	Sep 15, 2010 04:12am
The Seasonal Read...: Fall Challenge 2010 Completed Tasks (do NOT delete any posts in this thread)	2793	888	Nov 30, 2010 09:03pm
Teen Book Club: Master Book Suggestion List	1	36	Mar 06, 2011 02:41pm
YA Book Club: Top 10 Teen/YA Authors You'd Like To Meet!	46	234	Apr 12, 2011 05:44pm

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Ron Koertge

Author profile

16 postsRon Koertge's Blog

combine editionsBooks by Ron Koertge

Series by Ron Koertge

Upcoming Events

Quotes by Ron Koertge

Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

16 posts
Ron Koertge's Blog

combine editions
Books by Ron Koertge