A Letter from Phoenix Farm

Richard C. Owen Publishers came up with a great idea in their "Meet the Author" series of autobiographies for seven-to ten-year-olds. There are 35 autobiographies in total, and they are meant to give kids an inside view of the writing process. Text and full-color photographs invite young readers to see how their favorite authors turn ideas into books, and how they organize their writing days. The 32-page "A Letter from Phoenix Farm" is by and about Jane Yolen, whose books and stories have won the Caldecott Medal, two Nebula Awards, two Christopher Medals, the World Fantasy Award, three Mythopoeic Fantasy Awards, the Golden Kite Award, the Jewish Book Award, the Garden State Children's Book Award, the Association of Jewish Libraries Award, and the Nebraska and New York State Children's Book Awards. Whew! This author doesn't just write for kids. I met her through her fantasies, Briar Rose and The Books of Great Alta: Comprising 'Sister Light, Sister Dark' and 'White Jenna'. Yolen doesn't talk down to kids. She explains her writing life in detail, each page with a color photograph of the author at work, or walking along the Connecticut River and thinking of work. Since she also writes music, we see her at her piano in one photograph. At the end of this book, Yolen has included "A Poem Written for You" that starts out: "A book can be a passport/ To another time or place/ Where dinosaurs still roam the earth/ Or astronauts cross space." I can't think of a better collection of books for children who are interested in writing their own stories.