“Suddenly, Tara's accomplishment was clear. She had lined up allies among the school's various groups and got them all to work together for probably the first time in the school's history. She was like a master builder who could bend materials like stone and steel and clay to her will... except her materials were flesh and spirit.”

American writer of young adult fiction

Neal Shusterman is an American writer of young adult fiction. He won the 2015 National Book Award for Young People's Literature for Challenger Deep, and his novel Scythe received a 2017 Michael L. Printz Honor. His work is best known in the young adult field, where he writes fiction that has earned major recognition. Challenger Deep and Scythe are among his best-known books, and his writing often reaches readers through stories that balance imagination with serious themes.