Featured Author

Astrid Lindgren
Born November 14, 1907 in Vimmerby, Smaaland, Sweden
Died January 28, 2002 in Stockhol, Sweden

If you haven’t read Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking, then you have a treat in front of you. If all you have read of Astrid Lindgren’s work is Pippi Longstocking, then you have a feast.

This year is the centenary of Astrid Lindgren’s birth and there are many celebrations underway in Sweden and around the world. She wrote more than a hundred books in her time, seventy of them for children. She was a strong activist in the cause of peace, animal rights and children’s rights. She received rewards and recognition in Sweden, across Europe and the globe. Her books have sold close to 150 million copies and have been translated into more than ninety languages.

So who was this person? Before sketching her background, I think it is worth noting that, while she is best known for her Pippi Longstocking stories (Pippi Longstocking, Pippi Goes on Board , and Pippi in the South Seas),she actually wrote a number of series (Emil, Karlsson-on-the-Roof, Bill Bergson, and The Children of Noisy Village) each distinctly different from the others (though with some shared themes) as well as individual titles (Mio, My Son; Ronia The Robbers Daughter; Rasmus and the Vagabond; and The Brothers Lionheart), any of which on their own would have made the reputation of the author.

Astrid Anna Emilia Ericsson was born into a farming family in Småland, Sweden, November 14, 1907 and was the second of four children. Her childhood was a happy one with loving parents and lots of time spent outside among farm-workers or in fields and woods. When she was seventeen, Ericsson began working as a reporter for the local newspaper, Wimmerby Tidning. For all that Sweden has a libertine reputation, its deep Lutheranism is not far from the surface and this was especially true in the first half of the past century. Consequently when Ericsson, unmarried, became pregnant, it was a catastrophic event that greatly shocked her family. Her son Lars was born in 1926 and was temporarily given to a foster family. When she later married, Ericsson was able to take Lars back.

Ericsson moved to Stockholm, taking a job as a secretary in an office. She married Sture Lindgren in 1931 and had a daughter in 1934. As so often happens, her first stories were written by writing down the tales she told her children. In 1941 her seven year old daughter Karin was recuperating from a bout of pneumonia. She asked Lindgren to tell her a tale about a girl named Pippi Longstocking. As Lindgren recounted later, “I didn’t ask her who Pippi Longstocking was. I just began the story, and since it was a strange name it turned out to be a strange girl as well.” The first Pippi Longstocking story was published in 1945, was an immediate hit and was soon followed by the other two stories in the series.

Pippi has been way over-analyzed as is often the fate of popular children’s books. I hate to add too much more. Simply said, Pippi lives the life most children hanker for, but wouldn’t know what to do with if they had it. She is nine years old; her mother died when she was a child; her father, a sea captain, is shipwrecked somewhere in the South Pacific; and she has moved in to Villa Villekulla cottage, and lives alone save for her horse, Horse, who lives on the porch, and her monkey, Mr. Nilsson. Oh, and her cache of gold coins. She has all the power, resources and authority of an adult but lives the agenda of a nine year old. She sleeps with head at the foot of her bed, she scrubs the kitchen floor by tying brushes to her feet, and she does pretty much whatever she wants to do. She is saved from being a poster-child brat by not having a malicious bone in her body. Both the scrapes she gets into and the means by which she resolves them are the engine of humor that drives the stories.

I can still remember how I envied Pippi’s independence, reading the stories when I was nine. There was certainly an air of unreality about Pippi: she was so strong she could lift Horse off the porch and her circumstances improbable, but they were also so desirable that Lindgren absolutely made me want to believe this story was possible.

While many of Lindgren’s stories are cheery, light-hearted and humorous, she also dealt with more somber issues such as in The Brother’s Lionheart where one brother gives his life to save another. Or slightly weightier issues such as in Ronia, The Robber's Daughter where you have a difficult, but ultimately happy love story set in the Middle Ages.

Lindgren’s range of topics was broad but there is always a thread of hope, an expectation of sunny days, and a use of folklore and legends. Most identifiable is her concrete connection with nature. From Ronia: “They stood silently, listening to the twittering and rushing and buzzing and singing and murmuring in the woods. There was life in every tree and watercourse and every green thicket; the bright song of spring rang out everywhere.” And from her memoir: “Memory – it holds unknown sleeping treasures: fragrances and flavors, sights and sounds of childhood past! I can still see and smell and remember the bliss of that rosebush in the pasture, the one that showed me for the first time what beauty means. I can still hear the chirping of the land rail in the rye fields on a summer evening, and the hooting of the owls in the owl tree in the nights of spring. I still know exactly how it feels to enter a warm cow barn from biting cold and snow. I know how the tongue of a calf feels against a hand, and how rabbits smell . . . and how milk sounds when it strikes the bottom of a bucket, and the feel of small chicken feet when one holds a newly hatched chick. Those may not be extraordinary things to remember. The extraordinary thing . . . is the intensity of these experiences when we were new here on earth.”

Her specificity of writing calls to your own memories. From my own store of memories I would add the warmth of a granite boulder as you stretch across it in the mid-afternoon, the summer sun lapping you from a Scandinavian blue sky, storing up warmth for the coming winter, and the pure delicate white of lilies of the valley on a green hill in spring. Like all good writers, she conjures your own memories or provides them for you.

Following the success of Pippi Longstocking, Lindgren continued writing throughout the remainder of her long life. She was a vocal advocate of children’s rights as well as animal rights, lobbying for a set of laws governing humane treatment of farm animals that became known as Lex Astrid (The Law of Astrid). She contributed significantly to a debate and through her writings to the reform of Sweden’s tax laws when she pointed out that she was paying a tax rate of 102%.

For a farm girl from Sweden’s bread-basket, Astrid Lindgren had an incredible life and has left us a remarkable and remarkably long list of wonderful children’s stories. She won many of the international literature awards; had many places, schools, and streets named after her and her stories; had a series of stamps based on her stories, statues erected and so on. Her most tangible legacy, of course, is that of the pleasure her stories have given generation after generation of reading children.

Following are the Astrid Lindgren titles in print.

Picture Books

The Tomten by Astrid Lindgren, illustrated by Harald Wiberg Suggested

The Tomten and the Fox by Astrid Lindgren, illustrated by Harald Wiberg Suggested

Independent Reader

Christmas in Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren, illustrated by Ilon Wikland Suggested

Do You Know Pippi Longstocking? by Astrid Lindgren, illustrated by Ingrid Nyman

Happy Times in Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren, illustrated by Ilon Wikland Recommended

Pippi Goes on Board by Astrid Lindgren Recommended

Pippi Goes to School by Astrid Lindgren, illustrated by Michael Chesworth

Pippi Goes to the Circus by Astrid Lindgren, illustrated by Michael Chesworth

Pippi in the South Seas by Astrid Lindgren Recommended

Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren, illustrated by Louis S. Glanzman Highly Recommended

Pippi's Extraordinary Ordinary Day by Astrid Lindgren, illustrated by Michael Chesworth Suggested

Ronia, The Robber's Daughter by Astrid Lindgren and Alfred Lindgren Recommended

The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren, illustrated by Michael Chesworth Highly Recommended

The Children of Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren, illustrated by Ilon Wikland Recommended

The Red Bird by Astrid Lindgren, illustrated by Marit Tornqvist Suggested

Born March 2, 1962 in Belfast, Northern Ireland

P.J. Lynch, a Belfast born illustrator and winner of two Kate Greenaway medals is something of a J.D. Salinger of children’s illustration. Despite our times that so often demand celebrity and self-exposure, it is rather hard to find much information about him, leaving you, as it mostly should be, to judge and enjoy him for the work he produces.

Lynch was born into a working class fmaily in Northern Ireland. His mother came from the country and he had the opportunity to spend periods of time in his childhood on the family farm. He took his art training in Brighton Art College. After Belfast, he lived for a period of time in England and then settled in Dublin, Ireland. As can be seen by the books he chooses to illustrate and as he has indicated himself, Ireland, its history and its culture have a continuing significant influence on his work.

Much of Lynch’s works are illustrations of traditional tales and Irish legends, though, oddly, the two books for which he is most noted fall into neither category. He works in watercolor and gouache paints and is noted for the realism and accents of detail in his paintings. He is very much a traditionalist, looking to N.C. Wyeth, Maxfield Parrish, Edmund Dulac, and Arthur Rackham as inspirational influences on his work.

One of the pleasures of Lynch’s work is how much detail he packs into his pictures. If you are unfamiliar with his style, take visit to the PJ Lynch Gallery to see some of his work. His realism is not that of a photographic snapshot but rather of an ambience with the realism accentuated by selected details. Lynch will often create an unusual angle of view of a scene that helps move a story along and, which combined with the telling details within the frame of the picture, is what I think make his style so effective.

Lynch spends a great deal of time researching the visual aspects of a story before he ever puts brush to canvas. This research takes the form of discussing with the author, sometimes visiting the locations where the tale is set, researching clothing and architectural styles for the period in which the story occurs, collecting pertinent photographs, etc. This research period along with the act of painting the pictures themselves means that Lynch has been producing about a book a year since his first publication in 1986 (A Bag of Moonshine by Alan Garner.)

The two books for which Lynch is most noted and for both of which he won the Kate Greenaway medal are The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski and published in 1995, and When Jessie Came Across the Sea by Amy Hest and published in 1997.

We were not familiar with Lynch's work at the time, but even so we were fortunate enough to pick up a copy of Jonathan Toomey, the year it was published and it has been a favorite Christmas-time story ever since. Although Toomey and Jessie, are about entirely different subjects, they both are emotional stories that are kept on a tight leash. There is not a lot of gushing but as you read them to your child, like as not, there will be a scene or two where your voice catches. Partly this controlled emotion is attributable to the respective authors, but I think part of it is also a testament to Lynch’s visualization of the story and how to make it “work”.

If you have not read any of the books illustrated by Lynch, I suggest starting with The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey and then add When Jessie Came Across the Sea. Catkin by Antonia Barber is not currently in print but has always been a favorite among our children. Catkin is told in the style of folktale and is basically a retelling of the Demeter and Persphone myth in an unidentified western European setting. I hope it will be republished soon, but till then, keep your eyes open in your local used book store. After that it kind of depends on your interests. I am inclined towards Oscar Wilde then the Irish folktales and then the Anderson stories but your children are likely to enjoy any of them even if solely for Lynch’s beautiful paintings.

Picture Books

East O' the Sun and West O' the Moon by Author, illustrated by P. J. Lynch Suggested

Grandad's Prayers of the Earth by Douglas Wood, illustrated by P. J. Lynch Suggested

Ignis by Gina Wilson, illustrated by P. J. Lynch Suggested

Melisenda by Edith Nesbit, illustrated by P. J. Lynch Suggested

Oscar Wilde Stories for Children by Oscar Wilde, illustrated by P. J. Lynch Suggested

The Bee-Man of Orn by Frank RIchard Stockton, illustrated by P. J. Lynch Suggested

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski, illustrated by P. J. Lynch Highly Recommended

The Steadfast Tin Soldier by Hans Christensen Anderson, illustrated by P. J. Lynch Suggested

When Jessie Came Across the Sea by Amy Hest, illustrated by . J. Lynch Recommended

Independent Reader

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, illustrated by P. J. Lynch Suggested

Tales from Shakespeare by Tina Packer, illustrated by P. J. Lynch Suggested

Bibliography
In order of publication

A Bag of Moonshine by Alan Garner and illustrated by P.J. Lynch
Raggy Taggy Toys by Joyce Dunbar and illustrated by P.J. Lynch
Melisande by E. Nesbit and illustrated by P.J. Lynch Suggested
Fairy Tales of Ireland by William Butler Yeats and illustrated by P.J. Lynch Suggested
East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon translated by George W. Dasent and illustrated by P.J. Lynch
The Steadfast Tin Soldier by Hans Christian Anderson and illustrated by P.J. Lynch Suggested
The Candlewick Book of Fairy Tales by Sarah Hayes and illustrated by P.J. Lynch Suggested
The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson and illustrated by P.J. Lynch Suggested
Catkin by Antonia Barber and illustrated by P.J. Lynch Recommended
The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski and illustrated by P.J. Lynch Highly Recommended
The King of Ireland's Son by Brendan Behan and illustrated by P.J. Lynch Suggested
When Jessie Came across the Sea by Amy Hest and illustrated by P.J. Lynch Recommended
An ABC Picture Gallery by P.J. Lynch Suggested
Grandad's Prayers of the Earth by Douglas Wood Suggested
The Names upon the Harp: Irish Myth and Legend by Marie Heaney and illustrated by P.J. Lynch
Ignis, by Gina Wilson and illustrated by P.J. Lynch Suggested
The Bee-Man of Orn, by Frank R. Stockton and illustrated by P.J. Lynch Suggested
A Christmas Carol, By Charles Dickens and illustrated by P.J. Lynch Recommended

Born December 14, 1920 in Surrey, England
Died July 23, 1992

Rosemary Sutcliff was an English writer of historical fiction, primarily for children, and the author of some sixty books. As Neil Philip describes her work, Sutcliff “does not bring ‘history’ to the reader but involves the reader in the past – not just for the duration of a book, but for ever.”

Beyond her wonderful capabilities as a writer, Sutcliff is admirable as a person who overcame terrible circumstances to find her own talents and create new things for others to enjoy.

Sutcliff, born an only child into a naval family, moved frequently as her father’s career as a naval officer dictated. They resided for a period in Malta, but most of her youth was spent in England. Tragically, Sutcliff developed Still’s Disease and was wheel-chair bound with rheumatoid arthritis for much of her life.

Due to her illness, she was unable to attend school for much of her early life. While confined at home, her mother loved reading to her so much that Sutcliff herself did not learn to read until she was nine. Later she was to attend Bideford Art School where she studied miniature painting, with the general plan being that she would be able to support herself despite being an invalid. It is arresting to consider a time not so long ago when a middle-class family, with an invalided maiden daughter, would have to consider this type of planning for her.

Fortunately for the rest of us, Sutcliff soon came to realize that she did not really want to be a painter and turned instead to writing. In reading her books, it is easy to see in them some residual impact of those early days as a miniaturist as she has an eye for striking detail and is noted for her descriptions of terrain and countryside. This eye for detail is an especially critical attribute for a writer of historical fiction as it is in the details or shining light on what is unexpectedly different that helps carry the reader to the past and convince him that he is in a different time and place.

In an earlier essay on Lois Lenski, another writer of historical fiction, we noted Lenski’s habit of going to live in a locale that was the setting of her story, sometimes for many months, in order to pick up the vernacular and the detail of the environment. Given Sutcliff’s physical incapacities and inability to follow a similar pattern of preparation, her descriptive powers become even more notable.

Even if she was unable to live or easily visit the settings of her books, Sutcliff did invest a great deal of effort in researching the details of her books - not just the broad outlines of the history, but the everyday activities of farming, eating, soldiering, and speech. In fact, one of the fine balances that she strikes is in the area of speech. It took her two or three books to strike the right note, but she incorporates just enough of the rhythm and style of speech from an era to remind you of the difference in speech patterns without their becoming an impediment to the flow of the story. Instead they become a pinch of verbal seasoning as it were.

The other thing that is striking about her books is their capacity to be read at a couple of different levels. I suspect I was ten or eleven when I first read a Sutcliff book, The Eagle of the Ninth. At that age I read it simply as an action packed tale set in a distant Roman Britain. And I enjoyed it tremendously. I read others of her books over time as I was able to get my hands on them. By fourteen or fifteen, I went back and re-read The Eagle of the Ninth. On this second reading, and with a somewhat more developed emotional maturity, I was able to read a much different story, one not just about action and adventure.

Most of Sutcliff’s books are structured in a way that the protagonist has to either carve some path between two opposing loyalties and/or has to strike some reconciliation of values of the past with the needs of the present and future. Basically they are all about those aspects of change that are so characteristic of a child’s middle years and I think that is one reason that they remain so popular. They are not simplistic reads at all and they are not a story wrapped over a loom of social concern. They are not patronizing – a child can and will read them for the entertainment that they are and will only later realize that they read and learned much more than they were aware of.

Sutcliff is, as mentioned above, primarily noted as an author of children’s historical fiction, though that rather desiccated term doesn’t really do justice to her style or the impact the books can have on a child. Among the historical eras with which she dealt, she is probably best known for her Roman Britain trilogy (The Eagle of the Ninth, The Silver Branch, and The Lantern Bearers), and for her Arthurian knights trilogy (The Light Beyond the Forest, The Sword and the Circle, and The Road to Camlaan). I think two books of hers published after her passing, Black Ships Before Troy and The Wanderings of Odysseus, should belong among those top-rated books as well. They are a rather different style of writing for her, but they capture much of the essence of the original stories. And, most critically, they are not dumbed down. They are written for a middle or advanced independent reader, but as an illustrated book can serve as a fine story to read to children much younger, say five to ten.

Rosemary Sutcliff was commissioned to write Black Ships Before Troy and The Wanderings of Odysseus by the famous British publisher Frances Lincoln as part of a project to retell the three classics of the ancient Greco-Roman world: the Odyssey, the Iliad, and the Aeneid. Sutcliff was able to complete only the first two before her passing. The trilogy was subsequently completed by Penelope Lively who also writes children’s history. Her version of the Aeneid is titled In Search of a Homeland.

So for anyone interested in gripping, action oriented, historical fiction which also has deeper layers of development and change, Sutcliff would be your writer. For independent readers, start with The Eagle of the Ninth, and if you find you enjoy it, move on to her other works. I would strongly recommend both Black Ships Before Troy and The Wanderings of Odysseus to parents seeking to introduce their children at a young age to the library of Greek literature. I would start with The Wanderings of Odysseus.

Independent Reader

Black Ships before Troy: The Story of the Iliad by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Alan Lee 1993 Highly Recommended

Outcast by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Richard Kennedy 1955 Suggested

Sword Song by Rosemary Sutcliff 1998

The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by C. Walter Hodges 1954 Recommended

The Lantern Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Charles Keeping 1959 Suggested

The Light beyond the Forest: The Quest for the Holy Grail by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Shirley Felts 1979

The Mark of the Horse Lord by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Charles Keeping 1965

The Road to Camlann: The Death of King Arthur by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Shirley Felts 1981

The Shield Ring by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by C. Walter Hodges 1956

The Shining Company by Rosemary Sutcliff 1990

The Silver Branch by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Charles Keeping 1957 Suggested

The Sword and the Circle: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Shirley Felts 1981

The Wanderings of Odysseus: The Story of the Odyssey by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Alan Lee 1996 Highly Recommended

Tristan and Iseult by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Victor Ambrus 1971

Warrior Scarlet by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Charles Keeping 1958

Rosemary Sutcliff's Complete Bibliography

The Chronicles of Robin Hood by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by C. Walter Hodges 1950
The Queen Elizabeth Story by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by C. Walter Hodges 1950
The Armourer's House by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by C. Walter Hodges 1951
Brother Dusty-Feet by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by C. Walter Hodges 1952
Simon by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Richard Kennedy 1953
Black Ships before Troy: The Story of the Iliad by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Alan Lee 1993
Outcast by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Richard Kennedy 1955
Lady in Waiting (novel) by Rosemary Sutcliff 1956
Sword Song by Rosemary Sutcliff 1998
The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by C. Walter Hodges 1954
The Lantern Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Charles Keeping 1959
The Rider of the White Horse (novel) by Rosemary Sutcliff 1959
The Light beyond the Forest: The Quest for the Holy Grail by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Shirley Felts 1979
The Bridge-Builders by Rosemary Sutcliff 1959
Rudyard Kipling by Rosemary Sutcliff 1960
Knight's Fee by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Charles Keeping 1960
Houses and History by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by William Stobbs 1960
Beowulf: Dragonslayer by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Charles Keeping 1961
Dawn Wind by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Charles Keeping 1961
Dragon Slayer by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Charles Keeping 1961
Sword at Sunset (novel) by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by John Vernon Lord 1963
The Hound of Ulster by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Victor Ambrus 1963
Heroes and History by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Charles Keeping 1965
A Saxon Settler by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by John Lawrence 1965
The Mark of the Horse Lord by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Charles Keeping 1965
The High Deeds of Finn MacCool by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Michael Charlton 1967
The Chief's Daughter by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Victor Ambrus 1967
A Circlet of Oak Leaves by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Victor Ambrus 1968
The Flowers of Adonis (novel) by Rosemary Sutcliff 1969
The Witch's Brat by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Richard Lebenson 1970
The Road to Camlann: The Death of King Arthur by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Shirley Felts 1981
The Truce of the Games by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Victor Ambrus 1971
Heather, Oak and Olive: Three Stories (containsThe Chief's Daughter by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Victor Ambrus 1972
The Capricorn Bracelet (based on BBC scripts for a series on Roman Scotland) by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Richard Cuffari 1973
The Changeling by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Victor Ambrus 1974
(With Margaret Lyford-Pike) We Lived in Drumfyvie by Rosemary Sutcliff 1975
Blood Feud by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Charles Keeping 1976
Shifting Sands by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Laszlo Acs 1977
Sun Horse by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Shirley Felts 1977
(Editor with Monica Dickens) Is Anyone There? by Rosemary Sutcliff 1978
Song for a Dark Queen by Rosemary Sutcliff 1978
The Shield Ring by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by C. Walter Hodges 1956
Three Legions: A Trilogy (contains The Eagle of the Ninth, The Silver Branch, and The Lantern Bearers) by Rosemary Sutcliff 1980
Frontier Wolf by Rosemary Sutcliff 1980
The Shining Company by Rosemary Sutcliff 1990
The Silver Branch by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Charles Keeping 1957
Eagle's Egg by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Victor Ambrus 1981
Bonnie Dundee by Rosemary Sutcliff 1983
Blue Remembered Hills: A Recollection (autobiography) by Rosemary Sutcliff 1983
Flame-Coloured Taffeta by Rosemary Sutcliff 1985
The Roundabout Horse by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Alan Marks 1986
Mary Bedell (play) by Rosemary Sutcliff 1986
Blood and Sand by Rosemary Sutcliff 1987
The Best of Rosemary Sutcliff by Rosemary Sutcliff 1987
Little Hound Found by Rosemary Sutcliff 1989
A Little Dog Like You by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Jane Johnson 1990
The Sword and the Circle: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Shirley Felts 1981
Chess-Dream in a Garden by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Ralph Thompson 1993
The Minstrel and the Dragon Pup by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Emma Chichester 1993
The Wanderings of Odysseus: The Story of the Odyssey by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Alan Lee 1996
Tristan and Iseult by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Victor Ambrus 1971
Warrior Scarlet by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Charles Keeping 1958

ADDENDUM: March 13, 2008 - The estimable British literary magazine, Slightly Foxed has published a pocket edition of Sutcliff's Blue Remembered Hills. Should you wish a copy, please contact them directly at the link.

Born October 31, 1904 in New York
Died February 12, 1978

America, drawing its people from all over the world, has some great stories about assimilating into a new culture, each of those peoples then making their own contribution to the American melting-pot. There are some especially wonderful family stories from immigrant families. One of the crown jewels in this treasure chest is the All-of-a-Kind series by Sydney Taylor.

Like so many of the great children’s stories, this one was told first as entertainment to the author’s own child. Only years later through an unlikely set of circumstances did it actually become a printed book.

Sydney Taylor was born October 31, 1904 into an immigrant Jewish family in the Lower East Side of New York City. Her parents, the Brenners, immigrated to the USA in 1900 from Germany. They settled in the Lower East Side of New York City and there raised their family of seven, all, other than the first-born, Ella, being born in the US. Sydney was the third-born in the family and was actually christened Sarah but changed her name in high school.

Sydney Taylor grew up in the crowded tenements of the Lower East Side in a tightly knit family, taking full advantage of the limited opportunities for experience and mischief presented by her immediate surroundings. Graduating High School, she started work as a secretary, married and became involved in the world of dance.

She eventually became a member of the Martha Graham Dance Company. She left the Dance Company when her only child, Joanne, was born. After spending seven years at home with her young daughter, Taylor was drawn back into the world of dance from a new angle. She spent many years involved with a non-profit camp, Camp Cejwin, as the camp drama counselor. She had already begun writing, in that capacity, producing new scripts for her productions.

Daughter Jo, loved hearing Taylor retell the stories of her childhood in the Lower East Side in a family of five sisters (and latterly three brothers). At one point, prompted by Jo’s question “Mommy, why is it that whenever I read a book about children it is always a Christian child? Why isn’t there a book about a Jewish child?,” Taylor wrote down all the stories that she had been relating to Jo for Jo to read as a book. After being read and circulated among Jo’s friends for a while, the manuscript was packed away.

As Taylor relates in More Junior Authors edited by Muriel Fuller:

In 1950, when I was in my children’s world at camp, my husband chanced to read the announcement of a contest for juvenile literature. He disinterred the manuscript without telling me. When I heard from the Follett Publishing Company that I had won the prize, I did not know what they were talking about. I showed the letter to my husband – and the secret was out! That’s how I became a recognized author.

In some ways these books are New York’s answer to Laura Ingalls Wilder and Little House on the Prairie. They capture the feel of a distinct time and a distinct place but do so within the timeless framework of a tightly-knit family. By building on the foundation of family circumstances, independent readers are perhaps more easily transported into the less familiar realm of long ago and faraway.

In this regard, the All-of-a-Kind Family stories have the additional dimension that they introduce children not only to living in straightened circumstances in the 1900’s in New York City but also, incidentally to some of the structure and traditions of the Jewish faith. There are numerous stories that don’t set out to teach you something but you end up learning something as a by-product of the entertaining story. The All-of-a-Kind Family stories fall into this select group.

Taylor wrote a handful of other books as indicated in the bibliography as well as articles for magazines but nothing struck home to the same extent as All-of-a-Kind Family. If you have not come across them yet, I recommend you add the series to your child’s library.

Take a look at our book list, The American Immigrant Experience, for other excellent stories about families moving to America.

Independent Reader

All-Of-A-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor and illustrated by Helen John Highly Recommended

More All of a Kind Family by Sydney Taylor and illustrated by Mary Stevens Recommended

All-Of-A-Kind Family Uptown by Sydney Taylor and illustrated by Mary Stevens Suggested

All-Of-A-Kind Family Downtown by Sydney Taylor and illustrated by Beth and Joe Krush Suggested

Ella of All-Of-A-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor and illustrated by Meryl Rosner Suggested

Bibliography

All-of-a-Kind Family, by Sydney Taylor, 1951

The Holiday Story Book, by Sydney Taylor, 1953

More All-of-a-Kind Family, by Sydney Taylor, 1954

All-of-a-Kind Family Uptown, by Sydney Taylor, 1957

Mr. Barney's Beard, by Sydney Taylor, 1961

Now That You Are Eight, by Sydney Taylor, 1963

The Dog Who Came to Dinner, by Sydney Taylor, 1966

A Papa Like Everyone Else, by Sydney Taylor, 1966

All-of-a-Kind Family Downtown, by Sydney Taylor, 1972

Ella of All-of-a-Kind Family, by Sydney Taylor, 1978

Danny Loves a Holiday, by Sydney Taylor, 1980