In this captivating portrait of the restless, versatile Steinbeck, Reef follows up her stellar Walt Whitman (1995) by illuminating the life and work of another wayward icon of the American cultural scene. Reef sketches Steinbeck's private life in broad strokes, focusing more closely on his development as a writer: the early (and late) influence of the works of Thomas Malory and Robert Louis Stevenson, his profound response to encounters with hoboes and migrant workers in California, the inspiration he drew from travel and friends. He is seen as an active, sensitive man with a silly streak (he once bought a cannon and fired it off—41 times—to mark a wife's birthday) and no great interest in celebrity; Reef claims that Steinbeck wrote The Sea of Cortez, a book of natural history, to deflect public attention after the success of The Grapes of Wrath. Telling incidents, anecdotes, short passages, and sound bites reveal Steinbeck's character and talents; Reef's lucid look at her subject's language, experiments in narrative form, and unforgettable gallery of ``farmhands, townspeople, Mexican- Americans and hoboes'' will certainly kindle an interest in one who is, to too many readers, just another piece of homework. (b&w photos, bibliography, index) (Biography. 12-15)
Pub Date: April 22, 1996
ISBN: 0-395-71278-5
Page Count: 163
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1996
In a sequel to the well-received I Have Lived a Thousand Years (1997, not reviewed), Bitton-Jackson writes of her life as Elli Friedmann in 1945, when she, her brother, and mother were liberated from Auschwitz and sent back to their former home in Czechoslovakia. Finding only a shell of the place they had known, they struggled to rebuild some semblance of life and waited for the return of Elli’s father. When they realized he was gone for good, their only hope through all their efforts was the prospect of obtaining papers that would allow them to emigrate to America. Through the long years that they waited, Elli found work teaching, and helping other Jews escape to Palestine, a dangerous and illegal undertaking. When they finally arrived in New York City, relatives welcomed them; an epilogue collapses most of the author’s adult life into a few paragraphs so readers will know the directions her life took. Interesting and inspiring, this story makes painfully clear how the fight to survive extended well beyond the war years; the discomforts and obstacles the author faced and articulates in such riveting detail will make readers squirm at the security and ease of their own lives. (Memoir. 12-14)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-689-82026-7
Page Count: 258
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
Marguerite Henry died barely two years ago, after living the life of which most writers dream: She wrote from the time she was young, her parents encouraged her, she published early and often, and her books were honored and loved in her lifetime. Her hobby, she said, was words, but it was also her life and livelihood. Her research skills were honed by working in her local library, doing book repair. Her husband Sidney supported and encouraged her work, and they traveled widely as she carefully researched the horses on Chincoteague and the burros in the Grand Canyon. She worked in great harmony with her usual illustrator, Wesley Dennis, and was writing up until she died. Collins is a bit overwrought in his prose, but Henry comes across as strong and engaging as she must have been in person. Researchers will be delighted to find her Newbery acceptance speech included in its entirety. (b&w photos, bibliography, index) (Biography. 9-12)
Pub Date: March 10, 1999
ISBN: 1-883846-39-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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