Me Me Me Me Me: Not a Novel

by M.E. Kerr

A children's author recounts her life, including childhood, schooling, and her early days as a writer

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography Memoir, Writing, Biography

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

M. E. Kerr was born Marijane Meaker in Auburn, New York. Her interest in writing began with her father, who loved to read, and her mother, who loved to tell stories of neighborhood gossip. Unable to find an agent to represent her work, Meaker became her own agent, and wrote articles and books under a series of pseudonyms: Vin Packer, Ann Aldrich, Laura Winston, M.E. Kerr, and Mary James. As M.E. Kerr, Meaker has produced over twenty novels for young adults and won multiple awards, including the Margaret A. Edwards Award for her lifetime contribution to young adult literature.

Reviews

[Holly LaPat · Rating 5 out of 5]

M.E. Kerr was one of my favorite young adult authors in the '70s, and I just recently got around to reading her bio (originally published in 1983). It's not a comprehensive story of her life, but it offers great glimpses into her formative years from pre-teens up to her first short story sale, not long after college. It also gives a growing young woman's vantage point of the times she grew up in, covering the years shortly before the U.S. entered World War II up to the early 1950s. It's written in a natural, conversational style reminiscent of her YA novels, with those readers in mind, without ever writing "down" to them. Each chapter closes with the author's then-present-day comments -- often about the ways the events of the chapter fed into her later books. I was delighted with this visit with an old friend, and still more delighted to learn, when I looked her up, that she's still with us at the age of 94.

[Jade C. Jamison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book I'd read for a Young Adult Lit class back in my undergrad days and I'd kept it. When I picked it up again recently, the only thing I remembered--other than knowing that this was an autobiography/memoir--was that Kerr talked about living in an apartment in New York with several roommates and working out a deal where they fed her if she did the cooking (and paid her rent), and she stayed home and wrote as a full-time job. I also remembered that she played her own agent for various pen names she wrote under. Needless to say, she sold her first story quickly.

Anyway, I'd forgotten how she'd told stories about growing up in upstate New York in the 30s and 40s. She talked about going to boarding school in Virginia, state college in Vermont, and finished her degree in Missouri. Even in just the short time she covered, it was clear that she'd lived a full, fun life and, although I'd never read her young adult fiction, I can see how her experiences would have spoken to adolescents. What I enjoyed most was getting a feel for that bygone era in which she came of age from a teen's perspective--WWII, rationing, boys going off to war, etc.

I don't know that young people today would enjoy this memoir, however, because in it you can see just how far society has come. Although Kerr didn't seem to be racist herself (and reading about her life outside the memoir seemed to underscore that), it's clear that her community had those undertones and possibly her family members. In fact, I'd guess it was those attitudes that made Kerr the rebel she confessed to being.

If you're a Gen X'er (like yours truly), you might enjoy this book. I did--twice!

[Sarah Rigg · Rating 4 out of 5]

M.E. Kerr is one of several pen names for Marijane Meaker, this one for her young adult novels. As a pre-teen and young teen, I LOVED M.E. Kerr's books, especially her outsider's perspective and the autentic feel of her teen characters. This brief memoir covers Meaker's teenage years and some of the events that inspired events in her YA stories. A very fun and easy read. If you loved Kerr's YA novels (or happened to read her lesbian pulp as "Ann Aldrich" or hard-boiled crime fiction as "Vin Packer"), you will get a huge kick out of this book.

[Sandra de Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this memoir (for young adults) about her time in boarding school and college. She also notes which real people and incidents are written about in her books (and which ones). I did not know anything about sororities until I read this. And while I knew she was first published when she was her own agent, I didn't know the origin story. Fascinating. She took meetings with publishers (as an agent) representing herself as several different pseudonyms. And she got published this way, receiving the whopping sum of $750 for a story (in 1951).

[Nancy Freund · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this one in 1990, when I was teaching 9th and 10th graders, and I still think about it, 20+ years later. A revealing memoir about a writer's journey that today makes me think I'd like to discover her fiction as well! Might have to re-read it, in fact, as it may just deserve another star or two.

[C&C Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

ME Kerr’s autobiography. Told in a couple of different voices; she takes the reader to important moments of her life, then explains the inspiration for characters or storylines. Interesting to aspiring writers…

[Nctejana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This mini-memoir is excellent reading, especially -- but not exclusively -- for fans of M. E. Kerr's novels of the '70s and '80s. I do often wonder if she's considered adding a chapter since coming out, or whether she prefers readers to first discover and enjoy her fiction.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really, really enjoyed this - M. E. Kerr writes memoirs about her youth and then comments on how they inspired her novels. I laughed out loud at times, and appreciated her wit and sensitivity as she reflected on her formative years. An oldie, but a goodie!

[Clifford Wollum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Her voice is loud and clear.

[A.M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember enjoying this book when I read it (a long time ago now!) but I'll have to reread it again at some point.

[HeavyReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

I vaguely remember reading this book a long long time ago, probably when I was in middle school. I can't say anything specific about it, but I do think I enjoyed it at the time.

[Elisa Woods-shepard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this before see her speak in the 90's. thoroughly enjoyed it. Plan to re-read it.

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this as a young adult when it was first published and loved it!