About the Author:
Acclaimed biographer, Jean Fritz, was born in China where she lived until the age of thirteen. She tells her story in Homesick, My Own Story, a Newbery Honor Book. Ms Fritz is the author of forty-five books for children and young people. Many center on historical American figures, gaining her a reputation as the premier author of biographies for children and young people. Among the prestigious awards Ms. Fritz has garnered are: a medal from the National Endowment for the Humanities, a May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture, a Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, an American Book Award, a Christopher Award, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Non-Fiction Award, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and many ALA Notable Books of the Year, School Library Journal Best Books of the Year, and ALA Booklist Editors’ Choice Awards.
From School Library Journal:
Grade 4-6 Jean Fritz has done it again. In her tightly woven, well-researched biography of the Texas hero, she has demystified Sam Houston by presenting the facts of his life and providing interpretations. Her writing turns this larger-than-life character into a very real person. Houston was a self-educated man who fought in the War of 1812, served as a congressman and governor of Tennessee, fought for Texas independence, served as its first president and later as governor and senator after Texas joined the union. Much of his life was influenced by his boyhood reading of hero stories, especially those of Caius Marius, a Roman general and statesman. Fritz does not glide over Houston's weaknesses such as his problem with alcohol and his marriage to an Indian woman when still married to another woman. She delights in recounting Houston's dramatic flair. He stole the show from Mirabeau B. Lamar, elected to replace him as president of Texas, on his inauguration day by arriving dressed as George Washington and proceeding to give a three hour farewell address to the extreme consternation of Lamar. Other biographies of Houston have joined the ranks of o.p., but even collections that still have them should make room on their shelves for this splendid biography.Therese Bigelow, Hampton Public Library, Va.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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