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Audrey-headshot

Audrey Shafer

author of

The-mailbox

Biography

Audrey-xerox-painting

Audrey Shafer was born on December 7th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She completed her undergraduate studies at Harvard University, graduated from Stanford University School of Medicine, and finished anesthesiology residency at University of Pennstylvania. She currently teaches at Stanford University doing her clinical work at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System. She has two wonderful kids, Thomas (age 23) and Rebecca (age 19). However, she loves her son the most (that's what I get for being webmaster, Becca)

Mailbox-small

The Mailbox

Random House, Inc

ISBN: 0385733445

Xerox-mailbox

Jacket Synopsis:

Vernon Culligan has been dead to the town of Drayford, Virginia so long that when the crusty Vietnam veteran finally dies, only one person notices. Twelve-year-old Gabe gres up in the foster care system until a social worker located his uncle Vernon two years ago. When he comes home from schol to discover that his uncle has died, he's too stunned to react - so he does nothing. But the next day, returning from school, he discovers a strange note in his mailbox:

I have a secret. Do not be afraid.

And his uncle's body is gone.

Thus begins a unique exhcnage between Gabe and a secret correspondent. Flashbacks reveal how Gabe and Vernon's relationship changed their lives, and how war affects soldiers, even decades later. Eventually, Vernon's death will be discovered, and Gabe and the mystery note writer must learn to move forward.

The mailbox is a touching and beautiful story about connections - and about how two people in need can save each other. (Delacorte Press, Random House)

News and Events

Sleep Talker

Sleep-talker

poems by a Doctor/Mother

"It is the writer's willingness to look with a sustained gaze not only at what is beautiful but also at what is hard and sat until even that yields beauty, which makes these poems rewarding. Again and again, they remind us how double-edged even the most ordinary experiences may be."

- Marilyn Chandler McEntyre in J Medical Humanities

Order from:

  • Xlibris
    Xlibris
  • Amazon
    Amazon

How To Order

Order The Mailbox from:

  • Random-house
  • Amazon
  • Buy

Order Sleep Talker from:

  • Xlibris
  • Amazon

External Biographies

  • Stanford Resume
  • Anesthesia Resume
  • Literary Resume
  • Arts and Healthcare Resume

How To Order

Order The Mailbox from:

  • Random-house
  • Amazon
  • Buy

Order Sleep Talker from:

  • Xlibris
  • Amazon
  • United States Military and Vietnam War
  • Virginia
  • Books that Gabe Reads
US Army Homepage:
http://www.army.mil
US Department of Veterans Affairs:
http://www.va.gov
US Military Ranks and Units:
http://ecsu.ctstateu.edu/personal/faculty/pocock/ranks.htm
US Army Medals:
http://www2.powercom.net/~rokats/medals.html
History of the Tet Offensive:
http://www.vwam.com/vets/tet/tet.html
US Army Quartermaster Museum Mortuary Information:
http://www.qmmuseum.lee.army.mil/mortuary/MA-Vietnam.htm
The State of Virginia:
http://www.virginia.gov/cmsportal3/
Welcome to Virginia:
http://www.virginia.org/home.asp
The Roanoke Vally of Virginia:
http://www.visitroanokeva.com/
John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men:
http://www.steinbeck.org/
Jack London, The Call of the Wild:
http://london.sonoma.edu/
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes:
http://www.tarzan.org/

Contact

Literary Agent:

Amy Rennert

The Amy Rennert Agency, Inc.

amy@amyrennert.com

Reviews

From School Library Journal:

Warm and moving, it is an evocative picture of the weblike nature of human existence and the interconnectedness of seemingly disparate experiences.

- Faith Brautigam, Gail Border Public Library, Elgin, IL

From a review from Children's Literature:

"[The Mailbox] is a taut thriller fro the younger reader while remaining very much in the realm of possibility."

- Joan Kindig, Ph.D. (recommends ages 10-14)

From The Washington Post:

From this knockout opening, first-time novelist Audrey Shafer builds a story finely balenced between mystery, and meditation, on loneliness, love and what a boy really needs to make a life.

- Elizabeth Ward (November 26, 2006), full review here

From Book Sense:

This amazing story of coping with loneliness and fear presents the realities of loss and life that many young people face today.

- Kate Bearce (November 14, 2006), full review here

News

Black-Eye Susan Award (Maryland) Masterlist 2008:
http://www.maslmd.org/awards_Masterlists.php
Sequoyah Award (Oklahoma) Masterlist 2009:
http://www.oklibs.org/sequoyah/
South Carolina Association of School Librarians Junior Book Award Masterlist 2008-2009:
http://www.scasl.net/bookawards/index.htm
Great Stone Face Children’s Book Award Masterlist (New Hampshire) 2008-2009:
http://www.dover.lib.nh.us/Childrens'Room/childrenpages/GSF.htm
William Allen White Children’s Book Award Masterlist (Kansas) 2009:
http://waw.emporia.edu/masterlists/masterlist.htm
Virginia Young Readers Program Award Masterlist 2008-2009:
http://www.vsra.org/VRCindex.html
Young Hoosier Book Award Masterlist (Indiana) 2009-2010:
http://www.ilfonline.org/Programs/yhba.htm
Best Children’s Books of the Year List Bank Street College 2007
Librarians’ Choices Booklist 2006
Junior Library Guild Selection 2007
Read Aloud America Book List 2008:
http://www.readaloudamerica.org/ReadingList2008.htm
Napa County Reads Book of the Year 2008:
http://www.artscouncilnapavalley.org/index.php http://www.americancanyoneagle.com/articles/2008/11/13/features/community/doc491bbd6688377021917854.txt http://www.americancanyoneagle.com/articles/2008/09/05/news/local/doc48bf386bf0d6b415151323.txt http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2008/11/08/news/local/doc49152a5b95802960342168.txt
Mountain View Reads Together Book of the Year 2009:
http://www.mvreads.org/ http://www.mountainview.gov/city_hall/library/mountain_view_reads.asp
Suburban Mosaic Book of the Year 2009-2010 Cook/Lake County Illinois:
http://www.suburbanmosaicbooks.org/The-Mailbox.html