Gary d schmidt biography
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Gary D. Schmidt
Children, Untruth, Young Of age
Gary D. Schmidt interest a academician of Side at Theologiser University. Pacify has inscribed over 30 books, nigh of them for family tree and pubescent adults. His awards incorporate a Newbery Honor final a Printz Honor form Lizzie Resplendent and representation Buckminster Stripling (); and a Newbery Go halves for Picture Wednesday Wars ().Okay protect Now () was a Staterun Book Furnish Finalist. Schmidt's picture book account of Sojourner Truth, So Tall In (), won numerous accolades including rendering Chicago Universal Library First of rendering Best Informational Books vindicate Young Readers and interpretation ALSC Imposing Children's Books for Focal point Readers. His young mature book, Pay Concentrate, Carter Jones () received marked reviews deprive Kirkus, Booklist, Horn Exact, Publishers Hebdomadal, and School Library Journal.
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Gary D. Schmidt Makes Myth a Reality
In his decadeslong career writing children’s literature, Gary D. Schmidt has covered a lot of ground, from earlyth-century New England in Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy () to junior high in the s in The Wednesday Wars ()—both Newbery Honor–winning books—and beyond. In his latest, The Labors of Hercules Beal (Clarion/HarperCollins, May 23), the titular year-old delves into the labors of the mythological Hercules for an assignment at his new school. This task (or, rather, series of 12 tasks) holds more real-life significance for Hercules than he could have imagined as he grieves the loss of his parents; adjusts to having his older brother, Achilles, around the family garden nursery again; and endures many more trials (and joys) of growing up. In a starred review, a critic for Kirkus calls the book “at once an epic journey toward self-discovery and a wonderfully entertaining yarn.” Schmidt spoke to us over Zoom from his home in Michigan, and our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
What inspired you to incorporate mythology and specifically the Hercules mythology into this story?
There’s this great dictionary that I got as a graduate student in this wonderful, old used bookshop that was going out of busine
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Gary D. Schmidt: From Pumpkin to Professor
Gary D. Schmidt is a prolific, award-winning author who has received a Printz Honor and two Newbery Honors for his work. He has also completed numerous academic degrees including doctoral studies in Medieval Literature. Yet, as a child, Schmidt was pegged as a poor reader with low prospects and was assigned to the “Pumpkin Group” of students. Here, Schmidt shares what made the difference.
How did you move from being a struggling, reluctant reader to a successful one?
This is an easy one: I had a great teacher. Not long after being put in the Pumpkin Group—the poorest readers—I met Miss Kabakoff, who, in later grades, taught the Track One students—the best students. Somehow, and I don’t know how, she decided that I would come into her class, and when I did, she filled my desk with books. They were way too young for me in terms of grade level, but I struggled with all of them. She spent hours catching me up, and really instilling within me a love of reading. And it all happened very quickly after that: I began reading at grade level, then past grade level, and then reading everything I could on my own.”
You have been faculty in the English Department at Calvin College for 30 years. Your work has been acknowledged with out