New Releases by Gary D. Schmidt

Leaving behind a prosperous life in England, William Bradford and the other Pilgrims traveled on the Mayflower to a strange land in search of religious freedom. There Bradford established a stable colony, trying to be fair to both the colonists and the local Native Americans.

"A preeminent writer and illustrator of children''s books, Robert Lawson (1892-1957) is the only figure within children''s literature to have won both the Caldecott and Newbery medals. Over the course of his thirty-year career, Lawson illustrated nearly fifty books by others, and wrote and illustrated some twenty books of his own. His role in defining the style of children''s literature at mid-century was pivotal. Lawson''s illustrations capture character and quirks with great humor and expressiveness; his prose reflects solid American values of liberty, courage, and hard work and inventively combines elements of history, fantasy, realism, and autobiography." "In Robert Lawson - the first book-length treatment of its subject - Gary D. Schmidt argues that Lawson deserves continuing attention for two reasons: his ability to push literary genres to their limits and his influence on later illustrators in the realm of children''s literature. Arranging his presentation by genre, Schmidt inspects the autobiographical works, in which Lawson used personal reminiscence and picture-book format to tell the story of his own family; historical fantasies, a genre Lawson created by using as story narrator the imagined pets of figures like Ben Franklin and Paul Revere; the renowned Rabbit Hill volumes, incorporating realism, fantasy, and autobiography and advocating tolerance; and the "whimsical nonsense tales," in which Lawson merged the realistic and the fantastical to create priceless works of entertainment." "Separate chapters are devoted to Lawson''s collaborative endeavors and to his last book, 1957''s The Great Wheel, to appraise its melding of form and message. In even-handed fashion Schmidt addresses, too, the works that are dated, inaccessible, or ill-conceived and the ones that treat African Americans in a harsh light. Serving to elucidate the discussions throughout are plentiful reproductions of Lawson''s artwork." "The only extant study to assess all the works of a gifted writer-illustrator, Robert Lawson makes an ideal supplement for courses in children''s literature, children''s illustration, and the teaching of reading."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

After Cole''s mother dies, he and his father go to live with his mother''s parents in tiny Albion, New Hampshire. The Emersons make it easier for Cole to cope -- but he is helpless in the face of his father''s depression. So Cole turns to Albion itself, and its history. Can the old stories help him handle the present? Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

The hell mouth was an almost perfect coalescence of these very diverse images.

"Katherine Paterson is the consummate storyteller, a crafter of tales in which characters must deal with the most elemental hopes and fears in settings - be it a Chesapeake Bay island or the mountains of China - that are alternately blissful and beatific, terrifying and desperate. In a sensitive analysis of the novels and stories of this award-winning children''s author, Gary D. Schmidt finds that Paterson is, in a subtle way, a didactic writer, informed by her hopeful and ethical vision of the future." "Here is a writer, Schmidt argues, who does not shy away from horrendous topics - unwanted foster children, the death of a schoolchild''s best friend, rape, murder, political intrigue, religious mania, and war. He finds that Paterson''s books - among them the National Book Award-winning Master Puppeteer (1976) and The Great Gilly Hopkins (1978) and the Newberry Award-winning Bridge to Terabithia (1977) and Jacob Have I Loved (1980) - are successful when the reader journeys with the author through distressing situations and then arrives, in a moment of grace, at a place of spiritual enlightenment." "Paterson''s characters, Schmidt argues, search for fathers, for families, for love and acceptance, for themselves, they recall the characters of Flannery O''Connor, who also find themselves caught in moments of distress and then find, like Paterson''s characters, moments of grace. As Schmidt shows, that moment may come in the building of a bridge or in coming to understand the implications of a carol or poem or in resolving to live a life of burdens shared." "Schmidt begins this study with a biographical essay about Paterson''s life, drawn from her own essays as well as from an interview with her he conducted at her home in Barre, Vermont. In the balance of the book he addresses her copious work, beginning with her early historical fiction and proceeding on to the novels that explore her major themes - of the plight of prodigal children and the search for true family. Later chapters examine Paterson''s more recent historical fiction and her retelling of folk tales." "Throughout his discussion Schmidt focuses on the stories'' elements of hope, for, as Paterson has said in a National Book Award acceptance speech, she wants to be "a spy for hope." Schmidt''s lucid study brings readers a closer understanding of this remarkable "spy.""--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

After injuring his hand, a silversmith''s apprentice in Boston becomes a messenger for the Sons of Liberty in the days before the American Revolution.