Sharon Creech | |
---|---|
Born | South Euclid, Ohio, U.S. | July 29, 1945
Occupation | Novelist |
Genre | Children's novels, low fantasy, magic realism; poetry |
Notable works | Walk Two Moons Ruby Holler |
Notable awards | Newbery Medal 1995 Carnegie Medal 2002 |
Website | |
sharoncreech |
Sharon Creech (born July 29, 1945) is an American writer of children's novels. She was the first American winner of the Carnegie Medal for British children's books and the first person to win both the American Newbery Medal and the British Carnegie. [1] [lower-alpha 1]
Sharon Creech was born in South Euclid, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, where she grew up with her parents (Ann and Arvel), one sister (Sandy), and three brothers (Dennis, Doug and Tom). [2] She would often visit her cousins in Quincy, Lewis County, Kentucky, which has found its way into many of her books as the fictional Bybanks, Kentucky. Bybanks appears in Walk Two Moons , Chasing Redbird, and Bloomability, and there is an allusion to it in The Wanderer . [2]
At college in the U.S. she became intrigued by story-telling after taking literature and writing courses, and she later became a teacher of secondary school English and Writing in England and Switzerland. [2] Her first children's novel, Absolutely Normal Chaos, was published only in the U.K., by Macmillan Children's Books in 1990. Called "comedy about contemporary teen life" by Kirkus Reviews , it featured a 13-year-old girl's "complete and unabridged journal for English class". [3] Her first book published in the U.S. was Walk Two Moons (1994), which won the American Newbery Medal in 1995. Later that year, Absolutely Normal Chaos was first published in the U.S. by HarperCollins —set in her hometown Euclid, Ohio. [3]
Creech returned to the U.S. in 1998 after 18 years abroad. [4] She is married to Lyle Rigg, a headmaster in New Jersey, and has two grown children, Rob and Karin. [2]
She has written both novels and picture books. She often embeds serious topics into her stories, including such themes as independence, trust, childhood, adulthood, and death, often using humour to soften them.
Books such as Love That Dog and Heartbeat were written in verse, whereas other books like Ruby Holler and Walk Two Moons are in a narrative style.
Bloomability (1998) features an American girl at a boarding school in Switzerland. The setting was inspired by The American School In Switzerland, where Creech taught English.
She returned to the fictional school exercise in Love That Dog (Harper Collins and Bloomsbury, 2001), the blank verse diary of "Jack, a reluctant student, [who] resists poetry assignments from his teacher, Miss Stretchberry." [4] It was a commended runner-up for the British Carnegie Medal. [1] [5] [lower-alpha 2]
In 1995, Walk Two Moons won the Newbery Medal from the American Library Association, recognizing the year's best children's book by an American author. In the U.K., it won the annual Children's Book Award for long novels, voted by children, and the Reading Association Award. In 1997, it also won the Literaturhaus Award, Austria, and the Young Adult Sequoyah Award, Oklahoma, USA . [6]
Bloomability won the IRA/CBC Children's Choices award in 1999. [7]
The Wanderer won the Parents' Choice Award, USA, in 2000, and was a runner-up for the Newbery Medal. [8] It was one of eight books on the Carnegie Medal shortlist in the U.K. [1]
Creech and Love That Dog were a commended runner-up for the 2001 Carnegie Medal, [9] and she won the 2002 Medal from the British librarians, recognizing Ruby Holler as the year's best children's book published in the U.K. [1] [10] [11]
Kathleen Wendy Herald Peyton, who wrote primarily as K. M. Peyton, was a British author of fiction for children and young adults in the 1960s and 1970s.
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Walk Two Moons is a novel written by Sharon Creech, published by HarperCollins in 1994 and winner of the 1995 Newbery Medal. The novel was originally intended as a follow-up to Creech's previous novel Absolutely Normal Chaos; but, the idea was changed after she began writing it. The book is often taught in elementary and middle schools across the world since the book is considered a classic example of what it means to judge, come to terms with loss, and connecting with the people who surround us.
The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award was a literary award that annual recognised one fiction book written for children or young adults and published in the United Kingdom. It was conferred upon the author of the book by The Guardian newspaper, which established it in 1965 and inaugurated it in 1967. It was a lifetime award in that previous winners were not eligible. At least from 2000 the prize was £1,500. The prize was apparently discontinued after 2016, though no formal announcement appears to have been made.
The Carnegie Medal for Illustration is a British award that annually recognises "distinguished illustration in a book for children". It is conferred upon the illustrator by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) which inherited it from the Library Association. CILIP is currently partnered with the audio technology company Yoto in connection with the award, though their sponsorship and the removal of Greenaway’s name from the medal proved controversial.
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Absolutely Normal Chaos is a children's or young-adult novel by Sharon Creech, published in the U.K. by Macmillan Children's Books in 1990. It was the American author's first book for children, completed at the midpoint of nearly two decades living in England and Switzerland. Although set in her hometown Euclid, Ohio, it was not published in her native country until 1995 (HarperCollins), after she won the annual Newbery Medal recognizing Walk Two Moons as the preceding year's best American children's book.
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Ruby Holler (2002) is a low fantasy novel for children by the American writer Sharon Creech, published by HarperCollins in 2002. It features adolescent orphan twins who are "trouble" and an eccentric older couple who adopt them and take them back to live in "magical" Ruby Holler (hollow).
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The Wanderer is a children's novel by Sharon Creech, published in 2000. It was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and named a Newbery Honor book.
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