From: Leda Schubert <bobr>
Date: Mon, 03 Oct 2005 13:40:06 -0400

Great topic, and K.T., you've already named some of my choices for this list. Some others I miss (but I'm not, I'm afraid, waxing poetic):

Jenny Davis, whose two novels, "Goodbye and Keep Cold" and "Sex Education" were/are both favorites of mine. Wrenching books.

M.B. Goffstein. While she did, in fact, publish many books, her last one was a good long time ago. I love her understated yet extremely moving style, and there are so many of her books that I treasure: "The Little Schubert" (no surprise, check my last name), "Goldie the Dollmaker," "Fish for Supper," and her later works in color, "Your Lone Journey," and others. Everything of hers, in fact, including early novels.

Kyoko Mori, who wrote the intense "Shizuko's Daughter" and then moved to writing for adults. I'd love to see another YA from her.

Louise Plummer, author of "My Name is Sus5an Smith, the Five is Silent," and "The Unlikely Romance of Kate Bjorkman," both published a while ago, both delicious.

I was going to add Annette Curtis Klause, but I see she has a book coming out in January!

And there must be dozens of picture book writers/illustrators, so I'll start thinking; no doubt the suggestions of others will help.

Perhaps we can speculate about the reasons some of our favorites have disappeared (temporarily?), which may not only be connected to their writing, but to publishing itself. Perhaps they are, in fact, writing more, but are taking their time. Perhaps they continued submitting but were rejected. Perhaps their books didn't sell enough to make writing feasible, for whatever reason. Or perhaps... (offer suggestions here). Perhaps some of the knowledgeable folks on this list will have information to contribute!

leda www.ledaschubert.com

At 12:00 PM 10/3/2005 -0500, you wrote:
>Message: 2
>Date: Mon, 03 Oct 2005 10:31:46 -0500
>From: "Kathleen Horning" <horning at education.wisc.edu>
>Subject: [CCBC-Net] Write Something More!
>To: "Subscribers of ccbc-net" <ccbc-net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu>
>Message-ID: <s341089a.085 at pop.education.wisc.edu>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>
>Have you ever found a book by an author or illustrator you've never before
>heard of, and when you rush out to find more, you learn that there's
>nothing? Or have you ever read a great first novel that leaves you eager
>for the author's second one, and then you wait and wait and you're still
>waiting?
>
>
>The first part of this month we'll be discussing those authors and
>illustrators who seem to have dropped off the face of the earth after
>their initial success. When we were first discussing this idea for this
>topic among the CCBC librarians, we toyed with titles such as "Missing in
>Action," "Whatever Happened to..." and, even, "One Hit Wonders." We ended
>with the title "Write Something More!"
>
>Some of the authors I'd like to see more from include:
>
>Sharon Bell Mathis, author of such groundbreaking novels in the mid-1970s,
>such as "Teacup Full of Roses," "Listen for the Fig Tree," and "Sidewalk
>Story," as well as the exquisitely crafted short story "Hundred Penny
>Box," she seemed destined to emerge as one of the major African-American
>literary voices in children's literature, alongside Virginia Hamilton,
>Mildred D. Taylor and Walter Dean Myers. Since 1975, she's written only
>two books, both for younger children: a collection of football poems
>called "Red Dog, Blue Fly," (Viking, 1991) and a work of short fiction,
>"Running Girl: The Diary of Ebonee Rose" (Harcourt, 1997).
>
>
>Marian Calabro, author of a great nonfiction book, "The Perilous Journey
>of the Donner Party," which used 12-year-old Virginia Reed's 1847 letter
>to her cousin back in Springfield, Illinois, and the focal point for her
>retelling of events. If only the Sibert Award for nonfiction had been
>around in 1999 -- this book would have been a major contender. It remains
>one of the finest works of nonfiction in recent decades. I would love to
>see more from her.
>
>Suzanne Freeman, author of one novel "The Cuckoo's Child" published nearly
>10 years ago. This novel appeared on just about every "best of the year"
>list and had many starred reviews. She showed such great promise with her
>first novel. What happened to her?
>
>
>Janni Howker, author of a terrific collection of short stories "Badger on
>the Barge" and two great novels "Isaac Campion" and "Nature of the
>Beast." These works were all published in the mid-1980s, then she seemed
>to disappear. She resurfaces -- briefly -- in the late 1990s with a
>picture book "Walk Like a Wolf." Janni has one of the most original voices
>in children's books, and I'd love to see a book at least every two years
>from her. If you haven't discovered her earlier works, go out and find
>them a.s.a.p.!
>
>If anyone out there knows anything about any of the above authors, and
>whatever became of them, let us know. If you, too, are a fan of their
>books, feel free to wax poetic and publically mourn their absence.
>
>And who are your own lost authors or illustrators?
>
>
Received on Mon 03 Oct 2005 12:40:06 PM CDT