Miz Berlin Walks - Softcover

Yolen, Jane

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0698118456 ISBN 13: 9780698118454

Publisher: Puffin Books, 2000

Synopsis

Powerhouses Jane Yolen and Floyd Cooper come together to tell this heartwarming story of an unexpected friendship.

Every evening, old as she is, Miz Berlin walks down the long block, past Mary Louise's house, talking to herself. One day Mary Louise catches up to Miz Berlin and walks with her. She is spellbound by the stories the old woman tells: block-long stories and two-day stories about how she caught crawdaddies the day the sky rained feathers, or about the day the flood rose right to her front door. Now every evening, Mary Louise walks with Miz Berlin, then runs on home, stuffed full of her own stories to tell.
"This poignant book conveys through simple words the power of stories to build bridges between two very different people."—Booklist 

"Yolen is pitch-perfect in her delivery of this tender tale."—Publishers Weekly 

About this title

About the Author

Jane Yolen (janeyolen.com) needs no introduction! She has been called the "Hans Christian Andersen of children's literature" (Time) and has won countless awards for her wide-ranging body of work -- picture books, poetry, nonfiction, middle-grade fiction, YA novels, and novels and poetry for adults. She was also the editor of her own imprints at Harcourt (Jane Yolen Books and the reprint line Magic Carpet Books), where she published best-selling authors Patricia C. Wrede, Bruce Coville, and Anne McCaffrey, among many others.
Floyd Cooper (floydcooper.com) started drawing when he was three years old and has never stopped. He has been awarded the Coretta Scott King Award for The Blacker the Berry, three Coretta Scott King Honors for Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea, Meet Danitra Brown, and I Have Heard of a Land, and an NAACP image award. He was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and graduated with a degree in fine arts from the University of Oklahoma.

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-3?Cooper's ability to define and personalize characters and his soft-focus technique, which gives a nostalgic veneer to his artwork, make him a wise choice for this touching tale. Over the course of the story, the faces of the narrator, a young African-American girl, and Miz Berlin, an elderly white woman, fluctuate with emotion as the two begin and enjoy a friendship in a small Virginia town. Miz Berlin, "talking or singing or in quiet contemplation" walks the town, and although Mary Louise can only accompany her to the end of the block, she finds the woman's stories of catching crawdads on the day the sky rained feathers, living through a hurricane, or being born in a dirt-floor cabin captivating and comes to know the woman in a wonderful way. At the end, when Miz Berlin dies, the girl realizes that she has shared an experience that will be part of her life forever. While a number of intergenerational stories are available, most center on a grandparent-grandchild relationship; this, like Nancy White Carlstrom and Amy Schwartz's Blow Me a Kiss, Miss Lily (HarperCollins, 1990), focuses on a friendship between two non-related people. The cross-cultural cast is an added plus.?Barbara Elleman, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Puffin Books
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0698118456
• ISBN 13: 9780698118454
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Cooper Floyd