~ MMGM KID AUTHORS TRUE TALES OF CHILDHOOD ~

 

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 ~ MARVELOUS MIDDLE-GRADE

MONDAY BIOGRAPHY FEATURE ~

--  'KID AUTHORS:  TRUE TALES OF

CHILDHOOD FROM FAMOUS WRITERS'  --

AUTHOR DAVID STABLER

ILLUSTRATOR DOOGIE HORNER

 

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ABOUT THE BOOK {FROM GOODREADS}:

The series that includes Kid Presidents, Kid Artists, and Kid Athletes now chronicles the lives of Kid Authors! Here are true tales of famous writers, from long before they were famous—or even old enough to drive. Did you know:

• Sam Clemens (aka Mark Twain) loved to skip school and make mischief, with his best friend Tom, of course!

• A young J. R. R. Tolkien was bitten by a huge tarantula—or as he called it, "a spider as big as a dragon."

• Toddler Zora Neale Hurston took her first steps when a wild hog entered her house and started chasing her!

The diverse and inclusive cast includes Roald Dahl, Beverly Cleary, J. K. Rowling, Langston Hughes, Jules Verne, Lewis Carroll, Stan Lee, and many more.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR {FROM THE PUBLISHER'S WEBSITE}:

David Stabler is the author of Kid Presidents (Quirk, 2014), Kid Athletes (Quirk, 2015), Kid Artists (Quirk, 2016), and Kid Authors (Quirk, 2017). He Lives in New York City.

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR {FROM GOODREADS}:

Doogie Horner is the author of This Might Hurt a Bit, Some Very Interesting Cats Perhaps You Weren’t Aware of, Everything Explained Through Flowcharts, A Die Hard Christmas, and other books. His comedy album A Delicate Man was an AV Club staff pick. He won over a hostile NYC audience on America’s Got Talent and is a frequent guest on Doug Loves Movies.

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READ AN EXCERPT ON THE PUBLISHER'S WEBSITE:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/555820/kid-authors-by-david-stabler-illustrated-by-doogie-horner/

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MY REVIEW:

This is the second book from this series which I have read. I posted my MMGM feature for, Kid Scientists, on this blog in February, 2020. If you'd like to read more about that book, here is the post link:   https://authorjunemccraryjacobs.blogspot.com/2020/02/mmgm-steam-feature-kid-scientists.html  

 

Kid Authors is a fun, engaging, informative book which I really enjoyed. The illustrations are colorful and humorous and will appeal to a middle-grader's sense of humor, in my opinion.

 

Part One of the book is entitled, 'It's Not Easy Being a Kid'. Whew! Just like the rest of us, many of these authors suffered greatly at the hands of bullies during their childhoods. 

 

I once worked with a woman who used to tell anyone who would listen that since every kid got bullied at one time or another bullying wasn't that big of a deal. I, on the other hand, have always felt that bullying can be a very big deal because as an educator I saw the trauma and negativity bullies imparted on a child and in turn an entire classroom. I observed many times how the cruelty of one child could crush the self-esteem and confidence of one or more child in a setting.

 

Many of the authors in this chapter turned their traumatic childhood experiences into fodder for their later fiction writing. 

 

Part Two of the book, 'All in the Family', has the sub-title of 'Siblings, Parents, Grandparents, and All Kinds of Relatives, These Kid Authors had a Family Member in Their Corner'. 

 

Wow! This chapter included the inspiring stories of kid authors who overcame adversity and grief at a young age to become ground-breaking authors. Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes are included in this chapter along with Jules Verne and Mark Twain.

 

Part Three, 'The Write Stuff', has a sub-title of 'Comics, Library Books, and Candy Shops--Before They Were Famous, These Kid Authors Found Stories Everywhere'. I enjoyed this chapter very much because of the interesting facts and anecdotes shared about Roald Dahl, Stan Lee, and one of my top five kid authors--Beverly Clearly. Learning what originally inspired these authors as they built their characters and settings in their work as an adult energized and motivated me, as an author, to look into my past for new ideas for my writing projects.

 

As an aside, here is a graphic I made from a quote by Beverly Clearly for my tribute post to this author upon her passing earlier in 2021:

 

 

The Back Matter for the book includes a fun section entitled, 'Try As We Might, We Couldn't Fit Every Kid Author into One Book'.

 

This section includes fun tidbits about authors such as Stephen King, Maya Angelou, Frederick Douglass, Charles Schulz, Ray Bradbury, C.S. Lewis, and Shel Silverstein. I thought it was the perfect way to end a wonderful book!

 

Highly-recommended to children, adults who are writers/authors, teachers, and librarians.

 

I borrowed this book from the local public library.

 

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Find the links to read more great Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday posts from middle-grade authors and bloggers at Greg Pattridge's 'Always in the Middle' Blog. 

 

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