A Llama in the Family - Hardcover

Hurwitz, Johanna

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688133886 ISBN 13: 9780688133887

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1994

Synopsis

When Adam Fine's mother decides to start a llama-raising business on their Vermont farm, ten-year-old Adam, who only dreams of having a new bike to ride, finds that life is suddenly full of surprises.

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, and Wilmington, VT.

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:

Grade 3-4-Another winning story from Hurwitz. Adam Fine is excited when his parents hint that there will be a surprise waiting for him when he gets home from school. He decides it must be the new mountain bike he has been wanting, so he is amazed (and a little disappointed) to find that it's a llama. As Adam and his four-year-old sister get to know the strange creature (dubbed Ethan Allen by their mother), it becomes an important part of the family. Adam, however, still wants a new bike and spends most of his time figuring out how to get one. However, when he finds a valuable braided rug in the attic that he could sell, he trades it in order to get another llama to keep Ethan Allen company and to help his mother's growing business, "Fine Llama Treks" for tourists. Hurwitz has created a believable, likable protagonist. While Adam sees himself as a talented wheeler-dealer and is a typical 10-year-old in many respects, he's also wise and considerate. Satisfying in its depiction of a happy, secure Vermont family, this enjoyable tale would fit nicely into any library.
Jan Shepherd Ross, Dixie Elementary Magnet School, Lexington, KY
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0688133886
• ISBN 13: 9780688133887
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 112
• Illustrator: Graham Mark