Thursday, October 28, 2010

31st October Halloween Katherine Patterson (1932) Holly Hobbie (1944)






I have already written about Halloween this week.

Katherine Patterson is a much-awarded author of children's books, the 1998 Hans Christian Anderson Medal winner and the current National Ambassador for Young People's Literature in the USA, a position that I imagine is similar to the British Children's Laureate. She is probably best known for her very moving novel, Bridge to Terabithia which I can no longer read to a class. The last time I was reading it to a class, a child from my previous class died at school. If you haven't read it to a class it is a very rewarding experience. So too, is reading The Great Gilly Hopkins, but presently I am teaching much younger children and have to be content with Katherine's picture books and easier reads. As the wife of a minister, she has written very accessible picture books about stories from the Bible. See The Light of the World and The Angel and the Donkey.

Holly Hobbie is also American. Growing up I was exposed to 'cutesie' greeting cards and ornaments that had Holly Hobbie written all over them, so when I began in the library and found books by Holly Hobbie I thought it was a joke, but I have subsequently learned that she is responsible for both. Nowadays she is best known as the author of Toot and Puddle books and her newer books about Fanny. Toot and Puddle are pigs, but they behave like children and the stories are about, friendship, adventures and everyday things.

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