Christopher Everett Crowe (born c. 1954 in Danville, Illinois) is an American professor of English and English education at

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

(BYU) specializing in

young adult literature Young adult fiction (YA) is a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. While the genre is primarily targeted at adolescents, approximately half of YA readers are adults. The subject matter and genres of YA correlate ...

. In addition to his academic work, Crowe also writes books for the young-adult market, including '' Mississippi Trial, 1955''. Crowe was largely raised in

Tempe, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Vale of Tempe , image_skyline = Tempeskyline3.jpg , imagesize = 260px , image_caption = Tempe skyline as se ...

. He was a Catholic while growing up. Shortly before going to BYU he was given a copy of the Book of Mormon by a friend that also included an account of Joseph Smith's first vision in the front pages. Reading this account and identifying with it was a key catalyst to Crowe joining

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

. He attended

on a football scholarship from 1972 to 1976 and graduated with a BA in English. He earned an M.Ed. and an

Ed.D. The Doctor of Education (Ed.D. or D.Ed.; Latin ''Educationis Doctor'' or ''Doctor Educationis'') is (depending on region and university) a research or professional doctoral degree that focuses on the field of education. It prepares the holder for a ...

in English education from

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

in 1986. Crowe taught English and coached football and track at McClintock High School in Tempe, Arizona, for ten years. Prior to joining the BYU faculty in 1993 Crowe had been a professor at

Himeji Dokkyo University is a private university in Himeji, Hyōgo, Japan. The predecessor of the school was founded in 1881, and it was chartered as a university in 1986. It has many international students relative to other Japanese universities, and is most known for t ...

and

Brigham Young University Hawaii Brigham may refer to: Places * Brigham, Cumbria, England * Brigham, East Riding of Yorkshire, England * Brigham City, Utah, USA * Brigham, Wisconsin, USA * Brigham, Quebec, Canada People * Brigham (surname), including a list of people with t ...

. In 2007, Crowe was awarded the Karl G. Maeser Excellence in Research and Creative Arts Award from BYU and in 2008 was awarded the Nan Osmond Grass Professorship in English. In November 2010, he received the Ted Hipple Service Award from the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the NCTE (ALAN). For the 2016–2017 school year Crowe received BYU's Karl G. Maeser excellence in teaching award. He received BYU's highest faculty honor, the Karl G. Maeser Distinguished Lecturer Award in August 2020 and delivered the annual Karl G. Maeser Lecture in May 2021. Crowe is a

Latter-day Saint Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

and recently served as a counselor in the Provo Utah Edgemont South Stake presidency.

Writings

Crowe has written many reviews of young adult literature. He has been a contributor or editor of a wide variety of journals including ''Medical English'' and ''English Journal''. He has also written articles on general trends in young adult literature including the chapter “Mormon Values in Young Adult Literature,” in ''The Last Taboo: Spirituality in Young Adult Literature'' (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2015). Books he has written include ''From the Outside Looking In: Short Stories for LDS Teenagers'' and ''Fatherhood, Football and Turning Forty: Confessions of a Middle-Aged Mormon Male,'' ''Presenting

Mildred D. Taylor Mildred DeLois Taylor (born September 13, 1943) is a Newbery Award-winning American young adult novelist. She is best known for her novel ''Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry'', part of her Logan family series. Taylor is known for exploring powerful ...

,'' ''Teaching the Selected Works of Mildred D. Taylor,'' '' Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case,'' and ''Up Close: Thurgood Marshall.'' Crowe edited with Jesse S. Crisler the 2007 BYU Press publication ''How I Came to Write: LDS Authors for Young Adults''. He is currently working on a book tentatively titled ''Teaching for Social Justice Using Young Adult Literature: Sports and the Quest for Civil Rights'' for the Rowman and Littlefield Series ''Teaching for Social Justice Using Young Adult Literature''. His debut novel, '' Mississippi Trial, 1955'' (2002) on the

Emmett Till Emmett Louis Till (July 25, 1941August 28, 1955) was a 14-year-old African American boy who was abducted, tortured, and lynched in Mississippi in 1955, after being accused of offending a white woman, Carolyn Bryant, in her family's grocery ...

case received mixed reviews. It also won several awards including the International Reading Association's Young Adult Novel Award. In 2012 he had his first children's book published ''Just As Good: How Larry Doby Changed America's Game''. In 2014 his novel ''Death Coming Up the Hill'' was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book deals with racism and the Vietnam War, and although its form of a Haiku with a syllable for every American soldier killed in Vietnam in 1968 seems a bit forced, at least some reviewers liked it. It won the 2014 Whitney Award for Young Adult fiction.

Notes

References

BYU faculty bioCrowe's vitaBYU Magazine article on Croweteenreads entry on Crowe

External links

Personal websiteKarl G. Maeser Distinguished Lecturer
*

by Utah Children's Writers and Illustrators
Google Scholar listing for Crowe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crowe, Christopher 1950s births American Latter Day Saint writers American academics of English literature Arizona State University alumni Brigham Young University alumni Brigham Young University faculty Brigham Young University–Hawaii faculty Living people American writers of young adult literature Latter Day Saints from Arizona Latter Day Saints from Utah Year of birth missing (living people) Converts to Mormonism from Roman Catholicism