Library Spot: October 2008

Katherine Paterson
Katherine Paterson was born on Halloween in Qing Jiang, China in 1932. She was one of five children. Her parents were missionaries and they moved around a lot. She taught sixth grade for a year and she was a missionary in Japan. In 1962 she returned to New York where she met and married John Paterson.She and her husband John who is a Presbyterian pastor live in Barre, Vermont. They have four children.

Her family was touched by tragedy when her son's best friend was killed by lightning. In dealing with this tragedy and her personal grief, she wrote The Bridge to Terabithia, her first Newbery Medal winner. Her work is successful in portraying strong characters that are often set apart or cast out from society. For example, Jip, as an infant was literally cast out of the careening wagon by his mother. Leslie, in Bridge to Terabithia, is a newcomer and viewed with suspicion by many of her classmates. Mason, in Flip Flop Girl, sets himself apart by his refusal to talk. Gilly takes pride in making herself undesirable and in making her host families so miserable they cast her out. Louise, in Jacob Have I Loved is spurned by her grandmother. Lyddie is deserted first by her father and then by her mother. Each of these outcasts as well as many of Paterson's other characters are strong in spite of or because of their alienation and are often in pursuit of their own identities.

Paterson encourages young people to read fiction. She believes that through fiction, readers can experience life at a safe distance while preparing themselves for later experiences in their own lives. Young readers respond to her believable, well-developed characters whose stories are true to life.

Katerine Paterson has won many prestigious awards including:
Scott O'Dell Award, the Newbery Medal, the National Book Award for Children's Literature, American Library Association's Best Books for Young Adults Award, the New York Times Outstanding Books of the Year Award, the School Library Journal Best Books Award, and the Children's Book Council's Children's Choice Award.

Novels by Katherine Paterson:

Bridge to Terabithia

This Newbery winner is a tale of friendship, of secrets and of
grief. Leslie is a newcomer to the fifth grade and a threat to
Jess's title as fastest runner in fifth grade.

Flip Flop Girl

A child, so disturbed by his father's death and his feeling that
something he said caused that death, becomes a mute by choice
and later decides to speak.

The Great Gilly Hopkins

In this Newbery Award winner, we meet Gilly, a foster child
who has successfully manipulated the system for years.

Jacob I Have Loved

Feeling deprived all her life of proper schooling, friends, a mother,
even her name (they call her Wheeze), and by her beautiful, talented,
popular twin sister, Caroline, Louise finally begins to find her identity
and the courage to pursue it rather than to dwell on her jealousy.

Jip, His Story

Jip lives at the poor farm. When he was three, he fell off a wagon which
careened down the road and no one ever claimed him. Because of his dark
skin and hair he was assumed to be a gypsy and so was named Jip. Soon
the mystery of Jip's birth and desertion becomes clear.

Authors born in October:
Philip Pullman

Rahl Dahl

Rahl Dahl was born in South Wales on September 13th 1916. He was a fighter pilot in World War II. After the war, Dahl came to America and began writing stories. His first children's book, The Gremlins was written in 1943. First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt liked it so much she invited Dahl to the White House.

Dahl married Patricia Neil, a famous actress, they had five children. Dahl’s stories began as bedtime stories to his children. He once said, “Had I not had children, I would not have written books for children, nor would I have been capable of doing so.” Dahl had many diverse hobbies, he grew enormous onions, he enjoyed breeding orchids, he raced greyhounds and helped invent a special valve used in surgery to drain fluid from the brain. Rahl Dahl died in 1990 at the age of 74.

Books By Rahl Dahl:

James and the Giant Peach,

Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Twits,

Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Danny the Champion of the World, The BFG