 | This article contains content that is written like an advertisement .(April 2014) |
Anne Isaacs (born March 2, 1949) is an American writer known for her children's books and young adult literature. [1]
| This article contains content that is written like an advertisement .(April 2014) |
Anne Isaacs (born March 2, 1949) is an American writer known for her children's books and young adult literature. [1]
Isaacs was born in 1949, in Buffalo, New York, and lived there until she left for college in 1967.
She has a Bachelors' degrees in English Literature and Environmental Education, and a Master of Science degree (1975), all from the University of Michigan.
Isaacs married Samuel Koplowicz, a media producer, in 1978. [2] She lives in Berkeley, California. [2] [3]
Isaacs held a series of positions in the field of environmental education until the mid-1980s. She took on writing fiction as a second profession. [2]
Isaacs is known as the writer of Swamp Angel, a picture book illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky and published by Dutton Children's Books in 1994. Zelinsky was a runner-up for the annual Caldecott Medal for this work. [1] [4] [2] In 2014, Swamp Angel was a runner-up (Honor Book) for the Phoenix Picture Book Award from the Children's Literature Association. [5]
"All my life", says Isaacs, "poetry has affected me more than any other genre. I have read, memorized, studied, loved, and written it since I was nine." [3] As a child she has called herself "shy and usually lost in a world of my imagination. I read constantly from fourth grade on, plucking books haphazardly from my parents' or the library's shelves: Romeo and Juliet , Lorna Doone , The Wind in the Willows , The Caine Mutiny . In fourth grade I was changed forever by my first readings of Shakespeare and Coleridge. I was spellbound by their emotional directness, interweaving of thought and feeling, and above, all, the pure music of their words. I read Little Women more times than any other book." [1] [6]
Isaacs dabbled in writing as a child, but it wasn't until she had children of her own that she began to write seriously, and to think about trying to get a book published. She has said, "I seem fated to come to books in reverse order. I mainly read adult literature as a child, but as an adult I began to read children's literature, often encountering a classic work for the first time while reading it to my children." [1] [2] [6]
Isaacs teamed up with illustrator Paul O. Zelinsky to tell the story of Angelica Longrider, a native of Tennessee Hill, and her rise as the greatest woodswoman in the land. [7] The idea of Swamp Angel was to have a girl in a tall tale doing strong and extraordinary things. [8]
Angelica Longrider or "Swamp Angel" narrates an original American tall tale, one much like those of Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill. Taller than her mother at birth, Swamp Angel builds her first log cabin at the age of two. After many great feats, she takes on Thundering Tarnation, a black bear "with bottomless appetite for settlers' grub". Eventually she sends Tarnation up to the sky, where he becomes a constellation. [8]
The book won the prestigious place of the 1995 Caldecott Honor book, along with the 1995 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award Honor Book, 1994 ALA Notable Book, The New York Times Best Illustrated Books of 1994, School Library Journal Best Books of 1994, ALA Booklist Children's Editors Choices 1994, Publishers Weekly Best Books of 1994, TIME's 8 Best Children's Books 1994, Parenting Magazine Reading-Magic Award, 10 Best Books of 1994, and the 1995 Notable Trade Book in Language Arts. [1] [2] [8] [9]
A strange treehouse is the setting for the adventures of three 1880s Pennsylvania farm children who experience it as a refuge, a lookout post, and a frightening dragon's lair. In three interlocking stories, Tom, Emily, and Nathaniel each confront the mischief that ensues when their dreams come all too true. The stories are fairytale-like and romantic in their reading. [1] [2] Treehouse Tales started out its life as Outhouse Tales, a group of stories that all had something to do with an outhouse. The stories were semi-autobiographical, taken from humorous experiences at a girl scout camp where Isaacs was a counselor. She decided to change the name and focal point to make it more child appropriate. [1]
A book of poetry by Isaacs focuses on what she considers a completely ordinary situation: a cat stuck in a tree. The story unfolds one poem at a time, presenting different characters, all of whom think they know best what to do with the cat. The fireman and cat-catcher, a little girl, a wary robin, an overzealous mayor, and more all have their point of view on what to do with the cat and whether it even needs catching. [1] [2]
Based on the true story of her mother-in-law, Isaacs writes a story about a girl named Eva. In 1943, in Poland, the life of 12-year-old Eva turns when her sick sister is seized by the Nazis in a raid on the Jewish ghetto. In an effort to save both of his daughters, their father sends Eva to join her sister in a Nazi labor camp, where the girls are used as child labor to spin thread on machinery to make blankets for the German army. As she struggles amid ever-worsening conditions to save her life and that of her sick sister, Eva overcomes many challenges, including the lack of clothing and food. These two teenagers strive to create home and family for each other amidst the inhumanity and chaos that made up Nazi Germany. [1] [2]
The book has been awarded with the Outstanding International Book, Notable Book for a Global Society 2000, American Library Association: Notable Book, Best Books for Young Adults, 2000, National Jewish Book Award Finalist, Booklist: Best of the Year—Holocaust Literature for Youth, 2000, New York Public Library's 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing, 2000, Sydney Taylor Honor Book, Notable Book for Young Readers Pick of the Lists, American Booksellers Association, Smithsonian Notable Book for Children, and the Children's Literature Choice Book. [1] [8]
Pancakes for Supper features little blonde-haired Toby. When her family's wagon hits a bump, Toby Littlewood is hurled into the sky and lands in a forest. There, she meets a porcupine, a bear, and a hungry cougar, among other fearsome creatures. Cleverly, she talks each one out of eating her by offering up her fancy clothes. In the end, in a competition to be the grandest beast, the vain animals chase each other around and around a maple tree, where they turn into maple syrup that she eats on her pancakes for supper. The story is a folksy storytelling offering a twist to The Story of Little Black Sambo . [1] [2]
The Ghosts of Luckless Gulch (Atheneum Books, 2008), illustrated by Dan Santat, [10] takes place at the cusp of the California Gold Rush in 1848. Estrella, a Latina, is able to run so fast, that she burns up the air, and leaves a trail of flames wherever she runs on her father's rancho north of San Francisco. Her pets - a Kickle Snifter, a Sidehill Wowser, and a Rubberado puppy - are based on 19th-century tall tales and Pourquoi stories, or origin myths. Estrella has the power to heal them, along with wild animals she encounters. When the Ghosts of Luckless Gulch steal her pets, and come up with a sure-fire plan to steal all the gold in California, Estrella finds the need to use her powers to save the day. [1] [8]
Isaacs was living in Petaluma, California, while she wrote this book, near Rancho Petaluma Adobe, the former home of General Mariano Vallejo, now the last remaining "rancho" house and a state historic park. The Petaluma Adobe provided her with a model home for Estrella. The Vallejo family became the model for Estrella's family. The State Historic Parks District Interpretation library and the UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library provided many historic details regarding Northern California landscape and life during the early years of the Gold Rush. The towns, supplies, prices, and most of the settings were all historically researched by Isaacs. [1] [6]
Isaacs and Zelinsky completed a sequel to Swamp Angel more than 15 years later, called Dust Devil , published by Schwartz & Wade in 2010. Swamp Angel has a reputation as the greatest woodswoman in all of Tennessee. But when she grows too big for that state, she moves to Montana. It's there that she wrestles a raging storm to the ground and, at its center, finds herself a sidekick - a horse she names Dust Devil. And when Backward Bart, an outlaw, starts terrorizing the prairie, Angel and Dust Devil are the only ones strong enough to stop him. [1] [6] [8] [11] [12] [13]
Anne Fine OBE FRSL is an English writer. Although best known for children's books, she also writes for adults. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and she was appointed an OBE in 2003.
A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images.
Katherine Womeldorf Paterson is an American writer best known for children's novels, including Bridge to Terabithia. For four different books published 1975–1980, she won two Newbery Medals and two National Book Awards. She is one of four people to win the two major international awards; for "lasting contribution to children's literature" she won the biennial Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing in 1998 and for her career contribution to "children's and young adult literature in the broadest sense" she won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award from the Swedish Arts Council in 2006, the biggest monetary prize in children's literature. Also for her body of work she was awarded the NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature in 2007 and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal from the American Library Association in 2013. She was the second US National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, serving 2010 and 2011.
Peter Malcolm de Brissac Dickinson OBE FRSL was an English author and poet, best known for children's books and detective stories.
Eva Maria Charlotte Michelle Ibbotson was an Austrian-born British novelist, known for her children's literature. Some of her novels for adults have been reissued for the young adult market. The historical novel Journey to the River Sea won her the Smarties Prize in category 9–11 years, garnered an unusual commendation as runner-up for the Guardian Prize, and made the Carnegie, Whitbread, and Blue Peter shortlists. She was a finalist for the 2010 Guardian Prize at the time of her death. Her last book, The Abominables, was among four finalists for the same award in 2012.
Candice F. Ransom is a popular children's and young-adult author. She has written over 150 books as of June 2020, including 18 books for The Boxcar Children series, The Time Spies series and the Sunfire series. She wrote the Dungeons & Dragons novel, Key to the Griffon's Lair. Her work includes picture books, easy readers, middle grade fiction, biographies, and nonfiction. More than 45 of her titles have been translated into 12 languages.
Natalie Zane Babbitt was an American writer and illustrator of children's books. Her 1975 novel, Tuck Everlasting, was adapted into two feature films and a Broadway musical. She received the Newbery Honor and Christopher Award, and was the U.S. nominee for the biennial international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1982.
Deborah Hopkinson is an American writer of over seventy children's books, primarily historical fiction, nonfiction and picture books.
Ruth Manning-Sanders was an English poet and author born in Wales, known for a series of children's books for which she collected and related fairy tales worldwide. She published over 90 books in her lifetime
Anne Carroll Moore was an American educator, writer and advocate for children's libraries.
Carmen Agra Deedy is an author of children’s literature, storyteller and radio contributor.
Margot Zemach was an American illustrator of more than forty children's books, some of which she also wrote. Many were adaptations of folk tales from around the world, especially Yiddish and other Eastern European stories. She and her husband Harvey Fischtrom, writing as Harve Zemach, collaborated on several picture books including Duffy and the Devil for which she won the 1974 Caldecott Medal.
Paul Oser Zelinsky is an American illustrator and writer who illustrated children's picture books. He won the 1998 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustration, for Rapunzel. His most popular work is Wheels On the Bus, a best-selling movable book.
Anne LaBastille was an American author, ecologist, and photographer. She was the author of more than a dozen books, including Woodswoman, Beyond Black Bear Lake, and Women of the Wilderness. She also wrote over 150 articles and over 25 scientific papers. She was honored by the World Wildlife Fund and the Explorers Club for her pioneering work in wildlife ecology in the United States and Guatemala. LaBastille also took many wildlife photographs, many of which were published in nature publications.
Dutton Children's Books is a US publisher of children's books and a division of the Penguin Group. It is associated with the Dutton adult division. It was previously an imprint of E. P. Dutton, prior to 1986. They have been publishing books since 1852.
Margaret Stiefvater is an American writer of young adult fiction. She is best known for her fantasy series The Wolves of Mercy Falls and The Raven Cycle.
Emily Jenkins, who sometimes uses the pen name E. Lockhart, is an American writer of children's picture books, young-adult novels, and adult fiction. She is known best for the Ruby Oliver quartet, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, and We Were Liars.
Diana Wynne Jones was a British writer of fantasy novels for children and adults. She wrote a small amount of non-fiction.
Becky Birtha is an American poet and children's author who lives in the greater Philadelphia area. She is best known for her poetry and short stories depicting African-American and lesbian relationships, often focusing on topics such as interracial relationships, emotional recovery from a breakup, single parenthood and adoption. Her poetry was featured in the acclaimed 1983 anthology of African-American feminist writing Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology, edited by Barbara Smith and published by Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press. She has won a Lambda Literary award for her poetry. She has been awarded grants from the Pew Fellowships in the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts to further her literary works. In recent years she has written three children's historical fiction picture books about the African-American experience.
Yuyi Morales is a Mexican-American children's book author and illustrator. She is known for her books Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book, Little Night, and Viva Frida, which received the 2015 Pura Belpre Medal for illustration as well as a 2015 Caldecott Honor. Morales is the first Latina to be a Caldecott recipient.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
