Lives of the Writers: Comedies, Tragedies (and What the Neighbors Thought)

by Kathleen Krull, Kathryn Hewitt (Illustrator)

Overview

Shakespeare wrote with a feather quill and ink; Emily Dickinson wrote with a fountain pen; Isaac Bashevis Singer wrote on a Yiddish typewriter. But what did such writers do when they weren't writing? What did Jane Austen eat for breakfast? What could make Mark Twain throw his shirts out the window? Why would Zora Neale Hurston punch a fellow elevator passenger? Lives of the Writers tells all that and more.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780547541679
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/09/2017
Series:	Lives of . . .
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	96
File size:	87 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	10 - 12 Years

About the Author

Kathleen Krull is well known for her innovative, award-winning nonfiction for young people, including Lives of the Explorers, Lives of the Musicians, and all other books in this popular series illustrated by Kathryn Hewitt. She is also the author of Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez, illustrated by Yuyi Morales, as well as The Beatles Were Fab (and They Were Funny) and Lincoln Tells a Joke: How Laughter Saved the President (and the Country), both co-written with Paul Brewer and illustrated by Stacy Innerst. She lives in San Diego, California. Visit her online at kathleenkrull.com. 
Kathryn Hewitt's caricatures of famous figures led kids to dub the Lives of . . . series the "Big Head" books. She has illustrated many books for young readers, some of which she also wrote. She lives in Santa Monica, California. Visit her website at www.kathrynhewitt.com.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

There’s enough substance here for a quick report or to enliven a longer one. Let’s hope this team continues through all the arts. An irresistible package.”—School Library Journal, starred review

"Another colorful, enthralling excursion into our cultural heritage."—Kirkus Reviews

Editorial Reviews

In this companion to the "Lives of the Musicians" , the subtitle, "Comedies, Tragedies (and What the Neighbors Thought)", catches the tone. The 20 authors profiled are cleverly chosen, including ones children already know (Frances Hodgson Burnett, E. B. White, Shakespeare) and ones they're unfamiliar with (Murasaki Shikibu and Zora Neale Hurston, for example). Hewitt provides a full-page color portrait, part caricature, part realistic, for each, and Krull's text includes hard facts as well as enough lively anecdotes to make clear that the writers are human. The stories Krull tells will be enough to whet readers' appetites for more biography and for the writers' actual works.

Mary Harris Veeder

* “There’s enough substance here for a quick report or to enliven a longer one. . . . An irresistible package.”—School Library Journal, starred review   “The stories Krull tells will be enough to whet readers’ appetites for more biography and for the writers’ actual works.”—Booklist   "This compendium of brief biographies of literary luminaries is as much fun as a tete-a-tete with a gossipy friend. Krull knows exactly how to captivate her audience; she goes right for the juicy stuff, adding to historical fact the kind of chatty incidentals and amusing anecdotes that put flesh and blood on dry literary bones. . . .These exuberant thumbnail sketches are ably matched by Hewitt’s sophisticated caricatures, which will delight sharp-eyed readers with their many visual references to particulars and oddities about each of the subjects. A must-have for the reference shelf.”—Publishers Weekly   “Another colorful, enthralling excursion into our cultural heritage.”—Kirkus Reviews —

From the Publisher