It's Alive! Bringing History To Life With Jennifer Armstrong And Jonah Winter

Fifty books and counting – children's author Jennifer Armstrong sure is prolific. Versatile, too. Fiction, nonfiction, picture books, easy readers, chapter books – you name it, she's written it. And she's good... really good. Her Shipwreck At The Bottom Of The World, a detail-rich account of Ernest Shackleton’s harrowing 1914 Antarctic expedition, won the prestigious Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction in 1999, as well as the Boston Globe Horn Book Honor. Her historical novels Steal Away, The Dreams Of Mairhe Mehan, and its sequel Mary Mehan Awake have also earned top accolades.

Her latest is The American Story, a 368-page opus for ages 5 and up that hits bookstore shelves in late August, 2006. The book, which condenses 400 years of U.S. history into 100 entertaining and easily digestible stories, is a big-picture look at America's evolution, tracing patterns and making connections between each episode.

Ms. Armstrong tells of crafting The American Story, which she wrote at her editor's behest, plus the research and writing of many of her other titles in my August 1 Authorlink.com interview with her. Authorlink columns are accessible to the public for free for the first week or so after they're posted (yeah, I know, I'm late letting you know about Armstrong's – sorry!). You can also peruse the Jennifer Armstrong website, which includes a few of her lectures and articles. Her speech on researching historical fiction, "Search And Research", is especially helpful.



Speaking of helpful, though it's geared to students, The Biography Maker is an informative nuts-'n'-bolts look at the process of bio-writing. I particularly like the "Questions Of Import" – a handy list to keep bio-writers on track when researching and presenting a life. Definitely worth checking out.

And speaking of bios, I'll be interviewing Jonah Winter this week for September's Authorlink installment. Jonah's specialty is the picture book bio. A challenging art this, distilling the essence and accomplishments of a person into 32 or so well-told pages that will hold a child's interest. His Diego – a vivid portrait of artist Diego Rivera, illustrated by Jonah's mother, Jeanette Winter – was a Reading Rainbow Book and won a NY Times Best Illustrated Children's Book award. Jonah's forthcoming The 39 Apartments of Ludwig Van Beethoven is a delightfully quirky, kid-friendly take on the classical composer. The offbeat angle is sheer brilliance, and I can't wait to hear how he sold this one to relatively new children's house Schwartz and Wade, an imprint of Random House.



Drop me a line if you have any questions you'd like me to ask Jonah, if you have suggestions for authors you'd like to see interviewed in future Authorlink columns, or you have a favorite writerly website you'd like to share. I'd love to hear from you!