Russell's Secret - Hardcover

Hurwitz, Johanna

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688175740 ISBN 13: 9780688175740

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2001

Synopsis

A little boy's dream of skipping school and staying home like his baby sister isn't as great as he expected when he suddenly finds himself being treated like an infant himself.

About this title

About the Author:

Johanna Hurwitz is the author of over five dozen books for young readers. She is the recipient of many state awards, including the Texas Bluebonnet Award, the Kentucky Bluegrass Award, and the Garden State Children's Choice Award. She lives in Great Neck, NY.

Johanna Hurwitz always knew she wanted to be a writer. She started by telling stories to her brother, who is six years her junior, and she's been making up stories ever since. Born and raised in New York City, she earned her B.A. degree from Queens College and went on to receive a master's in library science from Columbia University. She embarked on a career as a children's librarian, but she never forgot that one day she wanted to write books, too.

She worked at the New York Public Library and in a variety of other public and school library positions. She also taught graduate courses in children's literature and storytelling at Queens College. When she and her husband, Uri -- a college teacher and writer-and their children, Nomi and Beni, moved to Long Island, she continued her library work.

Although she had told original stories to her children, it was not until they were well along in school that Mrs. Hurwitz actually began to write down her stories. That's why, when children ask her how long it takes to write a book, she replies that her first, Busybody Nora, took her whole life.

But since then she has been writing with regularity, portraying with humor and sympathy the everyday incidents that are so important to children. She is particularly fond of seven- to nine-year-olds, because they are " so very open and get excited about small things," and she enjoys writing realistic fiction for and about them.

That these youngsters are equally fond of Mrs. Hurwitz's books is obvious. She has received many child-chosen state awards, including the Texas Bluebonnet Award, the Wyoming Indian Paintbrush Award, the Kentucky Bluegrass Award, the Garden State Children's Choice Award, the West Virginia Children's Book Award, and others.

In recent years, Johanna Hurwitz has crisscrossed the United States from Juneau, Alaska, to Jackson, Mississippi, and from San Diego, California, to St. Albans, Vermont. She has even spoken abroad, from Morocco to Mozambique and from Portugal to Nicaragua. On these trips she has met and spoken to schoolchildren, teachers, librarians, and parents. She has made many new friends and has often brought home new ideas for her next book.

From School Library Journal:

PreSchool-Grade 1-Preschool blahs and sibling rivalry cause Russell to resist morning preparations, so Mom allows him to stay home and be a baby like his sister for a day. Of course, distasteful meals of pablum and mashed bananas, being banned from television and Legos, and general boredom soon convince the boy that his mother is right: "It's fun to be a baby when you are a baby. It's just not so much fun to be a baby when you're a big boy." Maione's cartoon characters cruise through cheerful vignettes; even the mother's initial frustration is low-grade. Hurwitz continues to deliver tales helpful to youngsters and parents managing everyday issues of growing up.
Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0688175740
• ISBN 13: 9780688175740
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Maione Heather