An Annotated List
of Favorite Author Sites
This page was created to be
used by teachers and library media specialists in accessing information about
authors to use in author study units, as well as to answer questions and
provide resources on what books and how to incorporate them into the classroom.
Each author site has been chosen based on my own interests in children’s
literature, as well as favorites that I notice amongst children.
Brett,
Jan.
This website is the site
created by the author herself! On it she includes fun coloring, musical and art
activities that accompany her books, using characters and themes contained
within children’s favorite stories. There is also a brief biography about
Brett as a professional. Date visited: 5/26/06. http://www.janbrett.com/
Jan Brett Teacher Resource
File
This website is a resource
for teachers. Here, there are links provided to bibliographic web pages
dedicated to Jan Brett. There are also listings of submitted lesson and
thematic units that connect with Jan Brett’s works. Date visited:
5/26/06. http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/brett.htm
Bunting,
Eve.
This website has been
created by Scholastic. It contains a brief biography about Eve Bunting. More
useful, is the section in which a Scholastic interviewer has transcribed his
interview with Eve Bunting. Many of Bunting’s processes in how she writes
and creates stories are explained in this section of the site. Date visited:
5/26/06. http://books.scholastic.com/teachers/authorsandbooks/authorstudies/authorhome.jsp?authorID=202&displayName=Biography
This site is very basic, but
kid friendly. It gives a detailed description of Eve Bunting’s life
without being too wordy. This site would be a good one to access and read aloud
to the class as an introduction to a unit study on Eve Bunting. Date visited:
5/26/06. http://www.kidsreads.com/authors/au-bunting-eve.asp
Carle,
Eric.
This website is the “official”
site for Eric Carle. Within the site, there are a few narratives written by
Eric Carle, and a wonderful listing of all of his works, divided into these
categories: 1967 – 1980, 1981- 1990, and 1991 – present. There is
also a section of the site dedicated to posting ideas and lessons that can be
used with some of Eric Carle’s books. Date visited: 5/26/06. http://www.eric-carle.com/
Eric Carle Teacher Resource
File
This website is an excellent
resource for teachers. It contains links to sites that give bibliographic
information on Eric Carle, as well as unit/lesson plans to use with The Very
Hungry Caterpillar and The Very Grouchy Ladybug, as well as other
favorite Carle stories! Date visited: 5/26/06. http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/carle.htm
dePaola, Tomie.
This is by far, the best
author site that I have seen. In in, Tomie writes personally about all aspects of his life.
There is an elaborate biography of his life, complete with pictures from his
childhood, pets, and other relevant subjects. My favorite portion of the site
is where Tomie has published his monthly calendar of “to
do’s.” For children that thing being an author is like living the
life of a celebrity, they are able to see how they carry on their lives like
other normal people with docotors appointments, days
designated to paying bills, housework, birthdays to celebrate, etc. There is
also complete bibliography of all works, arranged by publication date. This annotation
will never do this site justice – check it out! Date visited: 5/26/06. http://www.tomie.com/
This site provides a
biographical sketch of Tomie dePaola.
There is also a listing of reviews of many of his books. Each review contains a
summary of the plot of the story, as well as an intended age for which the
story could be used. This information could be very useful when attempting to
locate books that will fit with a particular topic imbedded within your author
study. For instance, focusing an author study on a specific theme, rather than
presenting it as a compilation of all works. Date visited: 5/26/06. http://www.childrenslit.com/f_depaola.html
Geisel, Theodor Seuss.
Here are links to tons of
teacher created thematic units and lessons that involve the use of Dr. Seuss’
stories and characters. There are embedded counting themes, phonics/phonemic
awareness activities, and rhyme lessons, as well as many others. Date visited:
5/26/06. http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/Themes/Dr__Seuss/
This is the official site of
the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden at the Springfield Museums. On
this site, there is a listing of events taking place at the garden, a detailed
biography of Dr. Seuss, and an online art gallery. Date visited: 5/26/06. http://www.catinthehat.org/index.html
Henkes, Kevin.
This is the
official Kevin Henkes site that contains an author
biography, character illustrations from his books, and fun pages connecting to
his works. Readers will find the site divided convienently
into Henke’s three types of books: picture books, mouse books, and his
first novel. Each book is pictured within its proper section of the site,
accompanied with a description. Favorite stories have their own page with a
more decorative summary. Though nothing out of the ordinary is contained here,
the site is colorful and represents Henkes’
works accurately. Date visited: 5/26/06. http://www.kevinhenkes.com/
This site is
about how Henkes and his publisher, Susan Hirschman,
have worked together. This site would be useful as a resource in how Kevin Henkes was first published, the story behind his dream –
though it would need to be summarized for young audiences. It would also be a
useful site to access when teaching writing in the intermediate elementary grades
up through high school to give an overview of how authors and their publishers
work together. Date visited: 5/26/06. http://www.cbcbooks.org/cbcmagazine/dialogues/kevin-susan.html
Keates, Erza Jack.
This is the official web
site for Erza Jack Keates.
Within this site, there is an elaborate biography of his life, describing his
inspirations for writing. Readers learn a lot about how KEates’
life as a minoritiy placed him in a position to
connect with and write about minority populations. Keates’
family of characters are described on one page within the site, giving the
reader a view of how each character grows and changes within his books. There is
also a page containing a listing and summary of each of Keates’
books. Date visited: 5/26/06. http://www.ezra-jack-keats.org/
Here is another site
describing the life of favorite children’s author, Erza
Jack Keates. A simple set up, the site contains a few
pictures and a biography of Keates, including
important dates, including the date of his death. Date visited: 5/26/06. http://www.lib.usm.edu/~degrum/keats/biography.html
MacLachlan, Patricia.
This site is a transcribed
interview with Patricia MacLachlan. Topics discussed
include MacLachlan’s professional collaboration
with daughter Emily in writing picture books, reading, and her Sarah, Plain and
Tall series. Date visited: 5/26/06. http://www.bookwire.com/Bookwire/MeetTheAuthor/Interview_Patricia_MacLachlan.htm
This site contains a
detailed biography of Patricia MacLachlan. There is
also an annotation of most of her works. Date visited: 5/26/06. http://www.edupaperback.org/showauth.cfm?authid=34
Shannon,
David.
This is another web site
created as an author study. Like my page here, this one is dedicated solely to
providing links to David Shannon lessons and discussion pages. There is a
wealth of information here to access when studying this author in the
intermediate grades. Date visited: 5/26/06. http://www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/S00001540.shtml
This is an online interview
with David Shannon about his most popular books, No, David! and
David Goes to School. David Shannon conveys some of David’s inner
feelings about getting in trouble. Date visited: 5/26/06. http://www.bookpage.com/9909bp/david_shannon.html
Van
Allsburg, Chris.
The site is awesome! It is
completely done in flash with a design consistent with Van Allsburg’s
works. Within this site there is bibliographical information, a timeline of all
works, a teacher’s resources page, students’ page, games, and much
more! After visiting this site, it is fun to learn that Chris Van Allsburg has associated himself with teaching and
advocating for asthma education. Date visited: 5/26/06. http://www.chrisvanallsburg.com/flash.html
This web page links to an
interview conducted with Chris Van Allsburg on his writing
audiences, themes contained within his stories, and other interesting information.
There is also a portion of this site that provides contact information. Date
visited: 5/26/06. http://www.eduplace.com/author/vanallsburg/
Video
Cips
This site has a compilation
of video interviews with many favorite authors, including Eric Carle, Eve
Bunting, Pam Munoz Ryan, Avi, Gail Gibbons, and many
more. Each author has a page dedicated to him/her which contains short video
clips of the author talking about various topics. You can access biographies
and bibliographies of selected works here too. Date visited: 5/26/06. http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/bunting