Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Patricia McKissack

Picture taken from Random House

Biography

Patricia McKissack was born on August 9th, 1944, in Smyrna Tennessee. She currently lives in St. Louis Missouri. She, along with her husband, has written hundreds of books about the African-American experience. She says that her career as a teacher is what helped her to realize what types of books were lacking in schools. She wanted to do something to help close that gap. Patricia has won several awards for her books including the Coretta Scott King Award for Days of Jubilee. She has a very specific way she writes her novels. She starts with an idea and then lets it float around in her head for a year or more. Once she’s done enough research and has a clear beginning middle and end then she begins work on her novel. Her final work doesn’t always reflect what her initial thoughts were but the main points are generally the same. One the she enjoys doing is traveling. When her and her husband aren’t traveling for research, they travel for fun.


Quotes by Patricial McKissack


  • “It was much more than bricks and stone - It was an idea.” 
  • “I aine never seen a fox before. So, why should I be scared of you and I don't even-now know you a real fox for a fact?” 
  • "Hero’s come from all cultures."
  • "We get our ideas for our books from many different places — from childhood experiences…when our children were growing up, we have incidents that happened that have given us ideas for books like Messy Bessie. We have the idea that comes out of history — our own lived history plus the history of the past."
  • "When I started writing a number of years ago, there were very few books for, by and about the African-American experience for children in picture books, beginning readers, novels, fiction or non-fiction: Virginia Hamilton, who was my mentor and… quite helpful; Jim Haskins, who had almost single-handedly documented the stories of African-American musicians; and Walter Dean Myers, whose juvenile novels brought young boys to reading.  So there were some African-American writers out there, but they alone could not represent all the stories that should be told — needed to be told. So when we entered the scene, what we tried to do was to fill a niche.  And our niche was that time period between 1800 and 1900 — that's pre-Civil War, Civil War, post-Civil War, up through and until the Harlem Renaissance. And we just carved that out as our niche and we worked very, very hard to try to tell that story. And I hope that what we've done is to make our history a little bit clearer — something that doesn't make the children feel ashamed or hurt."

Awards

  • 1990 Coretta Scott King Award, winner, A Long Hard Journey: The Story of the Pullman Porter
  • 1993 Horn Book Award, runner-up, Sojourner Truth: Ain't I a Woman?
  • 1993 Coretta Scott King Award, winner, Dark Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural
  • 1993 Newbery Honor Award, runner-up, The Dark Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural.
  • 1995 Coretta Scott King Award, winner, Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters
  • 1995 Orbis Pictus Award, honor book, Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters
  • 2012 PEN/Steven Kroll Award, winner, Never Forgotten


Some of the books by Patricia McKissack

  • A Friendship for Today
    • McKissack, P. (2007). A friendship for today. New York: Scholastic Press.
  • A Long Hard Journey: The Story of the Pullman Porter
    • McKissack, P., & McKissack, F. (1989). A long hard journey: the story of the Pullman porter. New York: Walker.
  • A Picture of Freedom: The Diary of Clotee, a Slave girl
    • McKissack, P. (1997). A picture of Freedom: the diary of Clotee, a slave girl. New York: Scholastic.
  • Abby Takes a Stand
    • McKissack, P., & James, G. C. (2005).Abby takes a stand. New York: Viking.
  • Black Diamond: The Story of the Negro Baseball Leagues
    • McKissack, P., & McKissack, F. (1994).Black diamond: the story of the Negro baseball leagues. New York: Scholastic.
  • Can You Imagine?
    • McKissack, P., & Pinkney, M. C. (1997).Can you imagine?. Katonah, N.Y.: Richard C. Owen.
  • Color Me Dark: the Diary of Nellie Lee Love, the Great Migration North
    • McKissack, P. (2000). Color me dark: the diary of Nellie Lee Love, the great migration North. New York: Scholastic.
  • Cyborg
    • McKissack, P., McKissack, F., & McKissack, J. P. (2011). Cyborg. New York: Scholastic Press.
  • Days of Jubilee
    • McKissack, P., & McKissack, F. (2003).Days of Jubilee: the end of slavery in the United States. New York: Scholastic Press.
  • Flossie and the Fox
    • McKissack, P., Isadora, R., & Reynolds, S. (1986). Flossie & the fox. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers.
  • Look to the Hills: The Diary of Lozette Moreau, a French Slave Girl
    • McKissack, P. (2004). Look to the hills: the diary of Lozette Moreau, a French slave girl. New York: Scholastic.
  • Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Man to Remember
    • McKissack, P. (1984). Martin Luther King, Jr.: a man to remember. Chicago: Childrens Press.
  • Messy Bessey and the Birthday Overnight
    • McKissack, P., & McKissack, F. (1998).Messy Bessey and the birthday overnight. New York: Children's Press.
  • Mirandy and Brother Wind
    • McKissack, P., Pinkney, J., & Greenstein, M. (1988). Mirandy and Brother Wind. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
  • Nettie Jo's Friends
    • McKissack, Pat, and Scott Cook. Nettie Jo's friends. New York: Knopf, 1989. Print.
  • Never Forgotten
    • McKissack, P., Dillon, L., & Dillon, D. (2011). Never forgotten. New York: Schwartz & Wade Books.
  • Nzingha: Warrior Queen or Matamba
    • McKissack, P. (2000). Nzingha, warrior queen of Matamba. New York: Scholastic.
  • Rebels Against Slavery, American Slave Revolts
    • McKissack, P., & McKissack, F. (1996).Rebels against slavery, American slave revolts. New York: Scholastic.
  • Run Away Home
    • McKissack, P. (1997). Run away home. New York: Scholastic.
  • Sojourner Truth: Ain’t I a Woman?
    • McKissack, P., & McKissack, F. (1992).Sojourner Truth: ain't I a woman?. New York: Scholastic.
  • Tennessee Trailblazers
    • McKissack, P., & Sloan, M. (1993).Tennessee trailblazers. Brentwood, TN: March Media ;
  • The Aztec
    • McKissack, P. (1985). The Aztec. Chicago: Childrens Press.
  • The Clone Codes
    • McKissack, P., McKissack, F., & McKissack, J. P. (2010). The clone codes. New York: Scholastic Press.
  • The Honest-To-Goodness Truth
    • McKissack, P. (2000). The honest to goodness truth. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing Division.
  • The Maya
    • McKissack, P. (1985). The Maya. Chicago: Childrens Press.
  • The Visitor's
    • McKissack, P., & McKissack, F. (2012).The visitors. New York: Scholastic Press.
  • Who is Coming?
    • McKissack, P., & Martin, C. (1986). Who is coming?. Chicago: Childrens Press.

Videos, and other important links!


Personal Reflections:

Color Me Dark: The Diary of Nellie Lee Love, The Great Migration North

Color Me Dark is a fantastic "journal entry" book written by Patricia C. McKissack.  The book takes place in the year of 1919.  Nellie was born and raised in Tennessee, but when her uncle suddenly dies from murder, her parents make the decision to travel north to Chicago and begin a better life for people like them who are colored.  Through the eyes of Nellie, an elevan year old girl, this story is composed of her journal entries over the course of the year 1919.  As the family moves to Chicago, they discover that life is much better for people who are colored, but there are still prejudices and evil around them.  As Nellie's father continues to try and obtain a license for his business, the family struggles to find food.  However, they have wonderful neighbors and friends who help them out along the way.  

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, as it is a great example of the hardships still faced by those who were of a different color.  Even the the Civil War was over, they still struggled and were treated differently.  I enjoyed reading the book from the perspective of Nellie, because she had a unique insight on what was going on around her.  She expressed her struggles honestly, especially when she did not understand what was going on around her.  I especially appreciated how she desired to help her sister, the love between the members of the family, and the support of all the friendships.

McKissack writes in a journalistic fashion.  She writes only in first person of the actually character in the book.  Many of her books are true stories, and she gives an epilogue afterwards, where she tells the rest of the story about the character.  Her style of writing is geared for students in 4th-8th grade, which makes her stories accessible to a variety of readers.

Flossie and the Fox

Flossie was told to protect her eggs from the fox as she walked home from collecting them. She doesn't know what a fox looks like but she does know that they like eggs very, very much. As she's walking home she runs into a fox. He tells her that he is a fox but she tells him that she doesn't believe him. As she walks home he tries everything that he can to convince her that he is a fox. As it turns out she really did believe him but was trying to keep him distracted enough so he wouldn't get her eggs.

This is a sweet story about thinking on your toes. The language is very authentic, using terms that are common in African-American culture. Words are often spelled how they are pronounced rather than how they should be spelled. She uses a narrative style of writing that draws you into the story. The characters are fun which makes the story very enjoyable.

The Honest to Goodness Truth 

"The truth is often hard to chew.  But if it is sweetened with love, then it is a little easier to swallow."  The Honest to Goodness Truth is about a little girl who is told to always tell the truth.  When she starts telling the truth all of the time though, she realizes that no one really likes her anymore.  She has to learn how to tell the honest-to-goodness truth.  This means learning how to not hurt peoples' feelings but still telling them what she things.  This was a good story about a life lesson even adults struggle with.  I loved the jokes that were placed throughout.  I also like the corrections in grammar.  That really shows how eager kids get to tell what's on their mind.  I liked how the author gave the message in a very relatable way.  I really liked the story however I would have put more diversity into the story.





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