What Mary Jo Shared [Paperback]

Janice May Udry (Author), Elizabeth Sayles (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Udry is an Albert Whitman author. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic (February 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0590437577
• ISBN-13: 978-0590437578
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #460,475 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Elizabeth Sayles has illustrated more than 25 books for children including Mother's Song, (a Victorian lullaby sprinkled with fairies) and I Already Know I Love You by Billy Crystal which was a NY Times #1 best selling picture book. The Goldfish Yawned, a winner of the Bank Street College Best Children's Book, 2005 (Henry Holt) is the first book that she wrote as well as illustrated.

One of her latest books is Moon Child, which stars a little sea otter. Ever since working on the book she dreams of spending her time floating on her back and eating clams. (Before that her dream was to be mouse-sized and sail a miniature boat across the Central Park Conservatory Pond in NYC, just like her hero, Stuart Little.)

Her newest book, The Very Little Princess: Rose's Story (Random House) is the second in a series about a very demanding doll, and a befuddled girl. The first in the series is The Very Little Princess: Zoey's Story (Random House), a chapter book about Zoey who finds out she has a grandmother named Hazel (isn't that a witch's name?) She also finds out that friends sometimes come in unexpected sizes, and maybe with a little attitude.

Her work has also appeared on book jackets and in projects for Lands' End, Peaceable Kingdom Press, American Girl and Sony/BMG Music, among others.

Her artwork has been on display in galleries and private collections across the country and at the Society of Illustrators in NYC, Museum of Comic & Cartoon Art also in NYC, The New York Public Library and The Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio.

Recently she strayed into new waters and curated an exhibit about the Ghost Army of WWII at the Historical Society of Rockland County. This is about some adventures her father and 999 other GIs had during WWII as an elite unit charged with confounding the enemy. She also co-authored a book about it with Rick Beyer. It's called, Artists of Deception: The Ghost Army of World War II.

She is an adjunct professor of Illustration at the School of Visual Arts in NYC and of Illustration & Cartooning at the State University of NY at Rockland. She teaches the Art of Pastel at the Rockland Center for the Arts and conducts workshops for kids large and small on making picture books and graphic storytelling.

She works in a little house in the lower Hudson Valley which she shares with her husband (a drummer) and their daughter.


See her work at www.elizabethsayles.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars loved it as a child, March 3, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: What Mary Jo Shared (Paperback)

This was one of my favorite books as a child and I am happy to see it is still in print. It is about a little girl who brings her father to school for show and tell. A lovely story that reminds us how important and special fathers are.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book that was a groundbreaker, September 3, 2011

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: What Mary Jo Shared (Paperback)

Written in 1969, this book contains a plot device rarely used in children's books at that time, a black girl with family. Mary Jo is a shy black girl that wants to bring something for the sharing portion of her daily class. However, every time she thinks she has something worthy of sharing someone else brings something better. For example, when she captures a grasshopper in a glass jar Jimmy brought a jar with six grasshoppers in it. Finally, she has a wonderful idea; she brings her father, a teacher of high school. It is a big hit among the children as they all excitedly talk about their fathers and Mary Jo is a success.
It is a sad, unfortunate fact that few of the stories written for children before the 1970's ever depicted black children in typical family settings. This book is a wonderful exception, Mary Jo is just a child with skin that happens to be darker than most of the others in her class.
I can remember when I was young how the boys in our neighborhood were constantly telling wild stories about the exploits of our fathers. They got pretty absurd at times, when you couldn't think of a good story you resorted to "My dad can beat up your dad." Therefore, this story had a great deal of resonance with me and I am sure the same would apply to the boys I grew up with.