Books in The Author and YOU series

Award-winning author Jane Kurtz spent most of her childhood in East Africa. In Jane Kurtz and YOU, she writes about animal spotting on the savanna, all-day treks on a treacherous road, and periodic visits to the United States where her fellow students asked, Did you see Tarzan? Each chapter contains a section that focuses on writing traits and the writing process, unlocking the mysteries of how authors come up with interesting ideas, hunt for vivid details, use words with sparkle and pizzazz, craft sentences and paragraphs that have pleasing rhythms, organize in clear and compelling ways, find their writing personality, and revise for big and little changes. Grades K-6.This title features the personal reflections on Kurtz's books for readers in grades K-6; including insight into her life, her path to becoming a successful children's author and the back story behind her books. Kurtz provides many suggestions for ways to think about writing- suggestions for connecting her books to common traits of good writers. Award-winning author Jane Kurtz spent most of her childhood in East Africa. In Jane Kurtz and YOU, she writes about animal spotting on the savanna, all-day treks to manage thirty-two miles on a treacherous road, periodic visits to the U.S. where her fellow students asked, Did you see Tarzan? Each chapter contains a section that focuses on writing traits and writing process, unlocking the mysteries of how authors come up with interesting ideas, hunt for vivid details, use words with sparkle and pizzaz, craft sentences and paragraphs that have pleasing rhythms, organize in clear and compelling ways, find their writing personality, and revise for big and little changes. The book's many photographs offer fascinating glimpses into the experiences that shaped Jane's picture books and novels for young readers and that nudged her to help start the first free library for children in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia. Grades K-6.

Award-winning author Deborah Hopkinson grew up in Massachusetts and after college moved to Hawaii where she worked as a college development administrator while nurturing her writing career. In this 9th book of the Author and YOU series, Hopkinson shares her curiosity and the manner in which that curiosity leads to investigation and research and then to her many fiction and nonfiction stories. The author discusses each of her books, providing the back story, the impetus for the book, and the research activities that brought each of the stories to young readers. The particular emphasis of this book is the writing of books for young readers within a historical context and how to use primary source documents in that effort. The author has a well-developed Web site with lesson plans for her books already in place. Her books are particularly valuable in school libraries as many are set in a historical context. She also has several biographies in her portfolio and is well known in that context to school librarians. Grades K-6.