[5] During Anderson's senior year, she moved out of her parents' house at the age of sixteen and lived as an exchange student for thirteen months on a pig farm in Denmark.

After her experience in Denmark, Anderson moved back home to work at a clothing store, earning the minimum wage.

Despite receiving rejection letters, Anderson released her first children's novel, Ndito Runs,[9] in 1996, based on Kenyan Olympic marathon runners who ran to and from school each day.

[11] The novel became a finalist for the National Book Award and won Anderson honors for its portrayal of a thirteen-year-old girl who becomes mute after a sexual assault.

[13] Anderson later wrote a memoir, Shout, about her life when she was a teenager, including details of her rape and the trauma she faced afterward.

The book received two starred reviews, and was named in the ALA Amelia Bloomer List and the Junior Library Guild Selection.

It won awards such as the ALA Best Book for Young Adults 2008, ALA Quick Pick for Young Adults 2008, International Reading Association Top Ten of 2007, and New York Public Library Best Books for the Teen Age, and became a New York Times Bestseller.

Wintergirls received five-star reviews and nominations for state awards, was named an ALA Quick Pick for Young Adults, was a Junior Library Guild Selection,[23] and debuted on the New York Times Best Seller list .

The ALA Margaret A. Edwards Award recognizes one writer and a particular body of work "for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature."

The ALA called the novels "gripping and exceptionally well-written" and the panel chair said that "Laurie Halse Anderson masterfully gives voice to teen characters undergoing transformations in their lives through their honesty and perseverance while finding the courage to be true to themselves.

[25] Several of Anderson's early children's picture books were placed on recommended reading lists and some won awards.

Her darkly radiant realism reveals the vital role of time and memory in young people's lives.

Pain and anxiety, yearning and love, class and sex are investigated with stylistic precision and dispassionate wit.

With tender intensity, Laurie Halse Anderson evokes, moods, and emotions and never shies from even the hardest things.