Charlotte Agell (born September 7, 1959) is a Swedish-born American author for young adults and children who currently lives in Maine.
She attended Carlyle Elementary school[5] where she learned English Language and listened to tales of Maine from Anglo-Canadian and Franco-Canadian friends.
[2] Along with her work as a writer and illustrator, Agell is a teacher in the gifted and talented language arts program at Harrison Middle School in Yarmouth .
[2] She has also conducted workshops for youths and adults at various literary events throughout the state,[2] including the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts[7] in Deer Isle.
[8][9] The text is matched with watercolor illustrations that depict similarities and differences of people from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds and reflecting Agell's interest in multicultural education.
The story is described by Donna Gold of the Portland Press Herald as "neither silly nor solemn,"[12] with a text suitable for beginning readers and illustrations that, through use of vibrant colors, depict a happy time spent with friends.
[2][14] The adventure is, reportedly, "too mild for children at the upper end of the target audience"[15] (the four just basically walk to the top of the mountain and back), but reviewers agree the simple rhymes and the illustrations, conveyed in ink, watercolor and pastels, are suitable for young listeners.
Aggie and her brother, Thorne, are faced with learning to cope with life in Ludwig, Maine after being dropped off there by their mother, a romance writer, who leaves to do research in Niagara Falls.
she wrote in an interview for Macmillan Publishers, "As someone who chose American citizenship on purpose, as an adult, I felt such a sense of betrayal.
"[19] Agell channeled her anger into the novel, exploring themes such as personal freedom,[19] government control,[2][25][26] separation of church and state,[1][2] religion,[1][27] science[25] and evolution,[19] and identity,[19] as experienced by the 15-year-old protagonist, Adrian Havoc[2] who, with his sister Shriek, must somehow make sense out of a world that is "out of whack.
"[25] The world they travel through in Shift is the partially post-nuclear United Christian States[28] controlled by Homestate agents,[1][26] with similarities to 1984 (George Orwell), The Stand (Stephen King) and The Road (Cormac McCarthy).
[1][19] In March 2011, Shift was adapted for stage by Al Miller and performed as part of the Theater Project (a Young Company Production), in Brunswick, ME.
[33] Recommended for children ages 8–11, The Accidental Adventure of India McAllister was named among the top ten GLBTQ books for young readers by the American Library Association's 2011 Rainbow Project.