Author of 'My Sister’s Keeper,' Jodi Picoult, touches down in Huntington

It was a night to remember for fans of author Jodi Picoult, best known for her best-selling novel, My Sister's Keeper, which was recently the basis for a feature film starring Cameron Diaz and Abigail Breslin. On Friday, March 5, more than 1,000 admirers from across Long Island filled the auditorium at Huntington High School to hear the internationally acclaimed novelist speak about her latest book, House Rules, and the craft of writing.

The event was the brainchild of Book Revue, which hosted the gathering in cooperation with OOMPAH for Arts in Education. Picoult, whom Book Revue publicist Julianne Wernersbach referred to as the bookstore's "perennially beloved author," has appeared at the popular way station for visiting celebrity authors in the past; this new venue was chosen to accommodate Picoult's rapidly growing fan base.

As her parents and grandparents proudly looked on, Picoult who grew up in Nesconset, spoke about penning her first story about a lobster who was misunderstood at the tender age of five. Picoult wrote poetry in high school and discovered her passion for fiction while a student at Princeton. Joking that it takes her about nine months to deliver either a book or a baby, astonishingly Picoult has published 17 novels in the last 17 years.

Her readership spans the globe and in addition to being a literary legend in English-speaking countries such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and South Africa, Picoult's books have been translated into 40 languages.

"My Sister's Keeper was my break-out book. More countries came on board after it was published," Picoult said of the heart-rending story of a young girl conceived by her parents in an effort to save the life of her leukemia-stricken sister. The younger sister, played by Abigail Breslin in the movie version, eventually seeks medical emancipation.

At the heart of her compelling new novel, House Rules, is Jacob Hunt, a teen who suffers from Asperger's Syndrome, a high functioning form of autism. Picoult said that she was inspired to write Jacob's story because of the growing number of families affected by this developmental disorder.

"One out of every 100 children is diagnosed on the autism spectrum," she said after asking the audience to indicate by a show of hands if they know anyone or have a family member who has been diagnosed with autism.

As the plot of this new book thickens, readers will be shocked to learn that Jacob is accused of murdering the young graduate student who had been tutoring him in social skills. Acknowledging that in recent years, her books tend to be more issue-driven, Picoult situates her story within the larger context of what it means to be different and the consequences of not knowing how to play by society's rules.

In the case of Jacob, readers will find that he is painfully literal, displays inappropriate affect and has great difficulty when it comes to reading social cues, autistic trademarks which could spell disaster for someone accused of a capital offense.

Picoult is known for enlivening her books with painstaking research, and this story is no exception. In the past, Picoult has tagged along with ghost-hunters, lived with the Amish, shadowed a crime scene detective and even been smuggled into an autopsy. For House Rules, Picoult delved into the minds of teenagers afflicted with Asperger's and what makes them tick.

"They have a great sense of humor and are incredibly smart. There is a kind of logic to Asperger's that makes a lot of sense," Picoult said, adding that it was a lot of fun getting to know these youngsters. Their problem lies in their inability to formulate a theory of mind for someone else, meaning they can't put themselves in someone else's shoes, she explained.

A disciplined writer, Picoult rises at 5 am and begins by answering fan mail and editing a previous work and then writes for several hours until her three children return from school.

She doesn't believe in waiting for inspiration to strike or giving into writer's block, and as a young mother, she trained herself to write even when only short segments of time were available, Picoult explained.

Picoult said that before she even begins a new book, she knows how it will end; her task is then to lay out the paper trail that leads to her signature twist ending.

In terms of the many questions that Picoult fielded from would-be writers, she had this to say: "Force yourself to finish. Otherwise you will never know if you can."

Among the many who attended the event were a group of women who had grown up with Picoult, including Ellyn Bencivenga of Huntington.

"We all moved into the same neighborhood in the early 1970s," Bencivenga said of their shared childhood. " I remember her first book. Once you start her books, you can't put them down. It is amazing to see how her popularity has grown," Bencivenga said.

She is very excited about reading Picoult's most recent offering, House Rules, she added.

"My nephew is autistic and my cousin's daughter has Asperger's. It really hits home," Bencivenga indicated.

Robin Scheintaub of Commack has known Jodi about 20 years and said that her favorite Picoult novels include The Pact, Harvesting the Heart, and 19 Minutes

Of My Sister's Keeper, Scheintaub said that this is a great story and a heart-wrenching one to which she can relate because she is a nurse in an outpatient oncology unit at Long Island Jewish Hospital. "Jodi does very accurate research," Scheintaub added.

The evening ended with a round of applause as Picoult revealed that her next novel will deal with embryo donation and gay rights.

"I am very excited about it. It is a story that desperately needs to be told," Picoult said in a private interview, adding that among the facets that the book will explore is whether this is a political issue or about people who simply want the rights that others take for granted.