Transcript Katherine Paterson, Childrens' Novelist

By: Jacquelyn Olson
Upon completion of this unit,
the student should be able to:
 Summarize Katherine Paterson’s life experiences.
 Discuss the type of literature the author writes.
 Compare and contrast Katherine Paterson’s style with
other contemporary children's’ authors.
 What entices you, the reader, to want to read a
particular book?
 What makes you want to continue reading that book
until you reach its conclusion?
 Katherine Paterson was born in China on October 31, 1932.
 Spent the first five years of her life in China before
returning to the United States when World War II began.
 Briefly returned to China a year later, but evacuated again,
never to return to live.
 Studied English and American literature at King College in
Bristol, Tennessee. She graduated in 1954.
 Taught for one year in a rural school in Northern Virginia.
 Earned a Master’s degree in Bible and Christian Education
in 1957.
 Moved to Japan for four years to live and work.
 Upon her return to the United States, she met
Reverend John Paterson. They married in 1962, and
moved to Takoma Park, Maryland.
 The couple have four children, and seven
grandchildren.
 The Patersons currently live in Barre, Vermont.
Awards Include:
 Bread and Roses, Too
 Bridge to Terabithia
 Come Sing, Jimmy Jo
 The Field of Dogs
Newbery Awards:
1978 Bridge to Terabithia
1981 Jacob Have I loved
 Flip-Flop Girl
 The Great Gilly Hopkins
 Jacob Have I loved
Newbery Honor Award:
1979 The Great Gilly Hopkins
 Jip, His Story
 Lyddie
 The Master Puppeteer
 Of Nightingales That Weep
 Park’s Quest
 Preacher’s Boy
 Rebels of the Heavenly Kingdom
 The Same Stuff as Stars
 Sign of the Chrysanthemum
National Book Awards:
1979 The Great Gilly Hopkins
1977 The Master Puppeteer
ALA Notable Children's Book
Awards
Hans Christian Anderson Award
 Currently on the ruling board for her church.
 Member of the United States Board of Books for Young
People (USBBY), the U.S. section of the International
Board of Books for Young People. This organization
tries to ensure that children everywhere experience the
joys of reading.
 Board member of the National Children’s Book and
Literacy Alliance which is a non-profit organization
that advocates for literacy, literature and libraries.
 What award(s) affected your mission in writing
children’s books the greatest?
 Do you feel a personal connection to any of your
books? Which ones?
 Best advise to young writers? “Read, because that’s the
way you learn how the language works. That’s the way
you learn about emotion, on paper. That’s where you
find out how stories are fastened, by reading, and
reading and reading.”
 “The best books are not just about problems. They’re
about a child’s heart.”
 Characters as role models? “I think of them as people
in circumstances of difficulty. And that makes some
people stronger and some people weaker.”
Discussion Questions:
 What intrigues you about Katherine Paterson’s life?
 Do you feel an interest in reading her books?
Which ones?
 How do the themes in her books compare with other
contemporary writers?
 "Interview with Katherine Paterson." Reading Rockets. 2008.
Reading Rockets. 10 Mar 2009
<http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/paterson>.
 "Katherine Paterson." Wikipedia. 2009. 10 Mar 2009
<'http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Paterson'>.
 " Life and Times of Katherine Paterson." Reading Rockets. 2008.
10 Mar 2009
<http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/paterson/bio
?theme=print>.
 Terabithia.com. 2009. Katherine Paterson. 20 Mar 2009
<http://www.terabithia.com/>.
 “Transcript: Interview with Katherine Paterson." Reading
Rockets. 2008. Reading Rockets. 10 Mar 2009
<http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/paterson/tra
nscript?theme=print>.