Colby Rodowsky

1. Colby Rodowsky

2. Colby Rodowsky - Author An Author Web presentation for LS530B – Young Adult Materials Compiled by Janet HasBrouck, Summer 2001

3. The Author “It’s a challenge – a kind of balancing act, and I get irritated by people who think you write for children because that’s where you start, and then you work up to writing for grownups. I don’t think it’s any easier to write for children than for adults, but the rewards are great – particularly when I get a letter from a child whose life has been touched by a book of mine.” Colby Rodowsky, to Something About the Author, vol. 77, Gale, 1994

4. Born Feb. 26, 1932 in Baltimore, MD Lives now in Baltimore, across the street from where she lived as a child Married in 1954 to Lawrence Rodowsky, who is a judge Has 5 daughters, 1 son, all married now, with 13 grandchildren Pongo the dog keeps her company while she writes Taught in a public school and a special education school, worked as a library assistant, and wrote book reviews Started writing in her forties, when her youngest child was in second grade She doesn’t use her children as characters in her books She sets her stories in some of her favorite places, especially the eastern shore of Maryland Colby Rodowsky’s Life

5. Her books • What About Me? 1976, gr. 5-7 • P.S. Write Soon, 1978, gr. 3-7 • Evy-Ivy-Over, 1978, gr. 4-7 • A Summer’s Worth of Shame, 1980, gr. 4-7 • The Gathering Room, 1981, gr. 3-7 • H, My Name is Henley, 1982, gr. 4-7 • Keeping Time, 1983, gr. 3-7 • Julie’s Daughter, 1986, gr. 7 up • Fitchett’s Folly, 1987, gr. 4 up

6. More of her books • Sydney, Herself, 1989, gr. 7 up • Dog Days, 1990, gr. 2 – 4 • Hannah In Between, 1994, gr. 7 up • Jenny and the Old Great-Aunts, 1992, gr. 2 - 4 • Lucy Peale, 1992, gr. 7 up • Sydney Invincible, 1995, gr. 7 up • The Turnabout Shop, 1998, gr. 3-7 • Remembering Mog, 1999, gr. 7 up • Not My Dog, 1999, gr. 1-3 • Spindrift, 2000, gr. 6 up

7. Some Awards Won by Her Books • The Gathering Room – ALA Notable Book, SLJ Best Book of the Year, IRA Teachers’ Choice • Julie’s Daughter – ALA Best Book for Young Adults, SLJ Best Book for Young Adults • Sydney, Herself – SLJ Best Book of the Year, Booklist Editors’ Choice • Lucy Peale – IRA-CBC Young Adult Choice • Hannah in Between – ALA Best Book for Young Adults, IRA-CBC Young Adult Choice, Quick Picks for YAs • Remembering Mog – ALA Notable Book • Not My Dog – ALA Notable Book, Horn Book Fanfare Honor List

8. What they say about the author… • * “The characters in Colby Rodowsky’s award-winning books live in a tough world, often marked by unpredictable events and undependable authority figures. These children and teenagers must contend with such issues as parental abandonment, poverty, and death. Not all is bleak in Rodowsky’s world, however; warm and loving people exist. Reviewers frequently praise her ability to create interesting and likeable characters.” • * “Carol Edwards writes in the School Library Journal that “Rodowsky makes her readers work, never patronizing or condescending, yet always revealing inner layers that poke through the surface,” and adds that the book is “funny, poignant, and appealing.”” (writing about Sydney, Herself) • *Something About the Author, vol. 77, Gale, 1994.

9. Themes • Parent-child relationships • Pregnancy • Alcoholism • Death and grieving • Down’s Syndrome • Family relationships • Generations • Date-rape

10. Standards • 3.0 Literary Response and Analysis, gr. 6-10 • Gr. 6 – 3.1 Identify the forms of fiction and describe the major characteristics of each form • 3.2 – Analyze the effect of the qualities of the character (e.g., courage or cowardice, ambition or laziness) on the plot and the resolution of the conflict • 3.6 – Identify and analyze features of themes conveyed through characters, actions, and images. • Gr. 7 – 3.4 Identify and analyze recurring themes across works(e.g., the value of bravery, loyalty and friendship; the effects of loneliness. • Gr. 8 – 3.2 Evaluate structural elements of the plot (e.g., subplots, parallel episodes, climax), the plot’s development, and the way in which conflicts are (or are not) addressed and resolved. • Gr. 9-10 – 3.3 Analyze interactions between main and subordinate characters in a literary text (e.g., internal and external conflicts, motivations, relationships, influences) and explain the way those interactions affect the plot. • 3.5 – Compare works that express a universal theme and provide evidence to support the ideas expressed in each work.

11. Some of my favorite lines… • “The attic was hot and dry and smelled like the insides of pockets.”Jenny and the Grand Old Great-Aunts • “ “Celery,” said Lu. “I mean, her mailbox says C. Stalk and she looks like celery.” …”How can she look like a celery stalk if she has red hair?” “You have to squint a little and think green,” said Lu. “Yeah,” we all said, squinting and thinking green.” The Turnabout Shop • “If I had to choose two words that described my life, I’d’ve picked predictable and comfortable. …Maybe, now that I think about it, it should all be one word: precomfordictable.” Hannah In Between • “And we walked with our hands sort of out in front as if we were carrying invisible trays (“As though you’re feeling for a doorknob in a dark room,” said my mother.): Sydney, Herself • “She’s the kind of person who looks misty and tragic, so that you know things have happened to her – which definitely haven’t to any of us.” Sydney, Herself • “Other people don’t live like this – in hodgepodge heaven.… “Monastically simple,” Mog said to me the day she totally purged her room. “You may all want to live in the clutter capital of the world, but I’m going for the monastically simple.”” Remembering Mog

12. Connections • Article and bibliography: http://www.childrensbook.org/rodowsky.html • Biographies, Interviews, ReviewsandBibliographies: • Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series, Vol. 23, p. 340. Detroit, MI, Gale Research, 1988. • Something About the Author, Vol. 21, p. 126. Gale, 1980. • Something About the Author, Vol. 77, p. 174. Gale, 1994.