From: Steven Engelfried <stevene>
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 00:43:39 -0700

I agree with Robin Smith, who recommends Bill Peet's autobiography. Despite its length, the illustrated format and lively writing makes it very accessible to the 7 and 8 year olds who enjoy his books, especially as a read aloud. I thought Helen Lester's "Author: A True Story" succeeded in a similar way: it has the same humor and fun as her terrific picturebooks, but also gives real insight into being a writer. Any opinions on the "Meet the Author" series? (published by Richard C. Owen...not the Learning Works series, which are not autobiographical) There are at least 20 of these short autobiographies, by some very interesting authors and illustrators
(Rylant, Yolen, Goble...). The writing is sometimes a little stilted...it seems like they may have some editorial guidelines they have to follow about short sentences. They're illustrated with photos of the authors at home. I've seen a couple of books that are funner from a series called "Creative Sparks," but am not sure if there are more. These two ("On the Bus with Joanna Cole" and "In Flight with David McPhail") give the authors a little more room to be creative. McPhail's uses his own illustrations mostly, and the Cole one uses illustrations from her books.

Steven Engelfried, Children's Librarian Deschutes Public Library 601 NW Wall Street Bend, OR 97701 ph: 541a7p72 fax: 541a7p73 e-mail: stevene at deschutes.org
Received on Tue 20 Apr 1999 02:43:39 AM CDT