Laura Amy Schlitz | |
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Born | Baltimore, Maryland, United States |
Occupation | Writer, and Lower School Librarian at Park School |
Language | English |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Goucher College BA |
Notable works |
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Notable awards | Cybils Award 2006 A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama Newbery Medal Newbery Honor Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction ContentsNational Jewish Book Award 2016 The Hired Girl |
Laura Amy Schlitz is an American author of children's literature. She is a librarian and storyteller at The Park School in Brooklandville, Maryland.
She received the 2008 Newbery Medal for her children's book entitled Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village , [1] and the 2013 Newbery Honor for her children's book, Splendors and Glooms . [2] She also won the 2016 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, the 2015 National Jewish Book Award, [3] and the Sydney Taylor Book Award for her young adult book, The Hired Girl. Her other published books are The Hero Schliemann: The Dreamer Who Dug For Troy (2006), A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama (2006), which won a Cybils Award that year, The Bearskinner: A Tale of the Brothers Grimm (2007), The Night Fairy (2010), Princess Cora and the Crocodile (2017), and Amber and Clay (2021).
Schlitz attended Goucher College in Towson, Maryland, and graduated in 1977.
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village comprises more than twenty one-person plays and two two-person plays. The 10- to 15-year-old characters all live in or near a 13th-century English manor. [4]
The monologues were written for the 5th Grade curriculum at The Park School during an F. Parvin Sharpless Faculty and Curricular Advancement Program (FACA) at the school. [5]
The book was awarded the 2008 Newbery Medal for excellence in children's literature.
The main character,rich girl Clara Wintermute, lives with her parents in a wealthy section of London. Her greatest wish for her birthday is for the puppet troupe she saw in a park one day to perform for her and her party guests. So the puppet master, Grisini, and his assistants, 14-year-old Lizzie Rose Fawr and 12-year-old Parsefall Hooke, visit the Wintermute home and put on their show. Then, not long after they visit, young Clara goes missing. Alleged kidnappers demand ransom from her parents, and Clara's father, Dr. Wintermute, brings the ransom to the appointed place, but the kidnapper never shows up. Meanwhile, an old witch is using her magic to summon Grisini to her estate near Lake Windermere. All of the children's lives soon become entangled with Grisini; the witch, Cassandra; and the Wintermutes. And all the while, Clara is being hidden in plain sight. [6]
The book was awarded the 2013 Newbery Honor for excellence in children's literature.
Candlewick Press published all eight books that are listed under Schlitz's name in the U.S. Library of Congress catalog.
Schlitz also wrote A Gypsy at Almack's, an adult romance novel, under the name of Chloe Cheshire.
The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished contributions to American literature for children". The Newbery and the Caldecott Medal are considered the two most prestigious awards for children's literature in the United States. Books selected are widely carried by bookstores and libraries, the authors are interviewed on television, and master's and doctoral theses are written on them. Named for John Newbery, an 18th-century English publisher of juvenile books, the winner of the Newbery is selected at the ALA's Midwinter Conference by a fifteen-person committee. The Newbery was proposed by Frederic G. Melcher in 1921, making it the first children's book award in the world. The physical bronze medal was designed by Rene Paul Chambellan and is given to the winning author at the next ALA annual conference. Since its founding there have been several changes to the composition of the selection committee, while the physical medal remains the same.
Elizabeth George Speare was an American writer of children's books, best known for historical novels including two Newbery Medal winners. She has been called one of America's 100 most popular writers for children and some of her work has become mandatory reading in many schools throughout the nation. Indeed, because her books have sold so well she is also cited as one of the Educational Paperback Association's top 100 authors.
Kate Seredy was a Hungarian-born writer and illustrator of children's books. She won the Newbery Medal once, the Newbery Honor twice, the Caldecott Honor once, and Lewis Carroll Shelf Award. Most of her books were written in English, which was not her first language. Seredy seems to be unknown in her native Hungary, despite the fact that her story of the Good Master, and the sequel set in World War I are intensely about Hungary.
Jennifer L. Holm is an American children's writer, and recipient of three Newbery Honors and the Eisner Award.
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Candlewick Press, established in 1992 and located in Somerville, Massachusetts, is part of the Walker Books group. The logo depicting a bear carrying a candle is based on Walker Books's original logo.
Pam Muñoz Ryan is an American writer for children and young adults, particularly in the multicultural genre.
The Park School of Baltimore, known as Park, is an private, coeducational, non-sectarian, progressive day school for children in Pre-Kindergarten through grade twelve. Park is located in Brooklandville, Maryland, near the city of Baltimore.
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Clara Ingram Judson was an American author who wrote over 70 children's books, primarily nonfiction including several biographies of American presidents. In 1960, she won the second Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal from the professional children's librarians, although she died before she could receive it. The award recognizes a living author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made "a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children".
Carolyn Sherwin Bailey was an American children's author. She was born in Hoosick Falls, New York and attended Teachers College, Columbia University, from which she graduated in 1896. She contributed to the Ladies' Home Journal and other magazines. She published volumes of stories for children like methods of story telling, teaching children and other related subjects, which include Boys and Girls of Colonial Days (1917); Broad Stripes and Bright Stars (1919); Hero Stories (1919); and The Little Rabbit Who Wanted Red Wings (1945). She wrote For the Children's Hour (1906) in collaboration with Clara M. Lewis. In 1947, her book Miss Hickory won the Newbery Medal.
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Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village is a 2007 children's book written by Laura Amy Schlitz. The book was awarded the 2008 Newbery Medal for excellence in children's literature.
Story of the Negro by Arna Bontemps is a children's history book published by Knopf in 1948. It was the first African-American authored book to receive a Newbery Honor.
Meg Medina is an American children’s book author of Cuban descent whose award-winning books celebrate Latino culture and the lives of young people. She is the recipient of the 2019 John Newbery Medal for her middle grade novel, Merci Suárez Changes Gears.
Splendors and Glooms is a 2012 children's novel written by Laura Amy Schlitz. The book was awarded a 2013 Newbery Honor for excellence in children's literature.
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