Katherine Paterson (Learning Works Meet the Author Series) [Paperback]

Alice Cary (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1997 | Age Level: 8 and up | Series: Learning Works Meet the Author Series

Katherine Paterson wanted to be a movie star or a missionary, not a writer. Born in China, she moved 18 times by the time she was 18. Always on the go, she even traveled by motorcycle from church to church where she was doing missionary work in Japan. Here is the stirring life story of the author of Jacob Have I Loved and Bridge to Terabithia and one of today's foremost writers of children's books.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-6. This biography covers this talented author's life from her young years in China with her missionary parents to the present day. It shows how her childhood (especially her relationships with her four siblings and the many moves her family made) influenced her writing. A few pages of black-and-white photos show the author and her family. The book's slow and somewhat unexciting pace is unlikely to win Paterson any new readers, but her many fans will enjoy all the details that flesh out this writer's life, and will appreciate learning about the events that led to the writing of Bridge to Terabithia and her other books.?Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Library
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 5^-8. According to Katherine Paterson, if you want to be a writer, "being an unhappy child isn't necessarily a bad way to start." This biography in the Meet the Author series is a lively introduction to the beloved writer who has twice won the Newbery Medal. Cary quotes a lot from personal interviews and autobiographical essays, in which Paterson talks frankly about the connections between her life and work, not in any literal sense, but in the way her stories grow from her own childhood emotional experience. From The Sign of the Chrysanthemum (1973) to Jip: His Story (1996), Paterson says she is drawing on her lifelong empathy for the outsider ("all my stories are about the time I didn't get any valentines"). She is also honest about the sweat that goes into every book, and one interesting chapter quotes from her personal notes as she struggles to write Jacob Have I Loved (1980). Paterson fans will appreciate the candor and warmth and the total lack of self-importance. Hazel Rochman

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Learning Works (February 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881602817
• ISBN-13: 978-0881602814
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 6.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.3 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,672,038 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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