Background

Terry Trueman was born on the 15th of December, 1947 in Birmingham, Alabama and raised in Spokane, Washington; the son of a housewife, Jeanne (LaPine) Trueman and a sales executive, Sydney M. Trueman.

Education

Terry Trueman graduated from Shoreline High School in 1966. He studied at the University of Washington, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1971. He also attended Eastern Washington State University (now Eastern Washington University), where he earned a Master of Science degree in applied developmental psychology in 1975 and a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing in 1985. In 1980, he obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Washington State University.

Career

Terrу Trueman began his career as an English and social studies teacher at White Hills Technical Schools in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia in 1972-74. He was a therapist at Spokane Community Mental Health Center in Spokane from 1975 to 1980 and also wrote poetry during that time. In 1981-82, he took the post of a secondary school counselor at Escuela International Sanpedrana in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

Terrу was a teaching fellow in English at Eastern Washington University in 1983-85. He worked as an instructor in the Communications and English Department at Spokane Falls Community College in Spokane in 1985-91 and in 1993. In 1991-93, he was a substance abuse intervention specialist for Spokane Public Schools. He also served as film, video, and media critic for KPBX-FM in Spokane.

As the author, Terry Trueman published The Chinese Painting Poems (chapbook), that was published in 1990. He also wrote Sheehan in 1992, Stuck in Neutral in 2000. With Michael Gurian, he produced What Stories Does My Son Need?: A Guide to Books and Movies That Build Character in Boys in 2000 and Boys and Girls Learn Differently: A Guide for Teachers and Parents in 2001. His most recent book The Kid Who Killed Cole Hardt came out in 2018. He is also a contributor to periodicals.

Achievements

• Terrу Trueman is particularly known as a prolific author and an outstanding educator. He received the Exceptional Faculty Award for teach­ing excellence by Spokane Falls Community College in 1996. He was also a recipient of the Louisa Kern Fund grants in the sup­port of writing poetry in 1970 and in 1971.
  
  In 2000, Terrу's work was included in Ten Best First Novels and Editors Choice awards Booklist. Trueman’s Stuck in Neutral, an inside view of a teen suffering from cerebral palsy, was the winner of a 2001 Michael L. Printz Honor Award and 2002 Kentucky Bluegrass Award. The novel secured for its author overnight success in the world of young adult fiction.

Works

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• book

  • No Right Turn

    (How do you live your life after catastrophe hits your fam...)

    2006
  • Boys and Girls Learn Differently: A Guide for Teachers and Parents

    (In this profoundly significant book, author Michael Guria...)

    2001
  • 7 Days at the Hot Corner

    (This should be the best year of Scott's life: It's his la...)

    2007
  • Cruise Control

    (How sick is this: I'm the major jock-stud in high school,...)

    2004
  • Hurricane

    (The powerful story of a boy's fear and courage in the fac...)

    2008
  • Clawing at the Door Scratching at the Window

    (Best known as an author of books for teens, Terry Trueman...)

    2017
  • The Kid Who Killed Cole Hardt

    (Ryan Turane, 17 years old, wants to be somebody, wants to...)

    2018
  • Stuck in Neutral

    (Shawn McDaniel's life is not what it may seem to anyone l...)

    2000
  • Inside Out

    (In a busy coffee shop, a robbery goes wrong. Two gunmen h...)

    2003
  • What Stories Does My Son Need?: A Guide to Books and Movies That Build Character in Boy 2000
  • Sheehan: Heartbreak and Redemption 1992
  • Where We Going With This?: Selected Poems 2015 - 2016 2016
  • Where's The Fire?: Selected Poems 2015

Views

Quotations: "My models as a writer are Charles Bukowski and Raymond Carver, who both wrote truthful prose. Their line is straight and direct."

"My real ambition was to make my livelihood through writing, to make my livelihood as a writer writing material that I was proud of."

"Write because you love it. Period. All else will come from that or it won’t, but you’ll be getting the best you can get from writing if you write for that reason."

"If you're being honest, you don't have to tell the truth. Only God knows the truth."

"Have talent, work hard, get lucky!"

"Don't drink, it's bad for you."

Interests

• Trueman’s hobbies include his love of corvettes and walking his dog Rusty.

Connections

Terry Trueman was married four times. Presently, he is married to Patti. He is the father of two sons, Henry Sheehan and Jesse.

Father:

Sydney M. Trueman

Mother:

Jeanne (LaPine) Trueman

Wife:

Patti Trueman

Son:

Henry Sheehan Trueman

Son:

Jesse Trueman

Sister:

Cynthia M. Trueman