Thomas Jefferson : a picture book biography

Format:

Book

Title:

Thomas Jefferson : a picture book biography

Author:

Giblin, James Cross, 1933-2016.

ISBN:

9780590448383

9780590448611

9780439810678

Publication Information:

New York : Scholastic, 1994.

Physical Description:

48 pages : color illustrations ; 29 cm

General Note:

Includes index.

Summary:

A simple, well rounded portrait of Thomas Jefferson's life which should appeal to junior readers; the text is accompanied by beautiful oil paintings which heighten the reality of the narrative.

Reading Level:

Ages: 8-11.

Grades: 3-6.

Personal Subject:

Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826-Juvenile literature.

Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826.

Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826 (OCoLC)fst00040754

Subject(s):

Presidents -- United States -- Biography -- Juvenile literature.

Presidents.

Geographic Term:

United States.

Genre:

collective biographies.

Biographies.

Juvenile works.

Added Author:

Dooling, Michael

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Silver Falls Library	JNF 921 JEFFERSON	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Dallas Public Library	+ 921 J35TP	Searching... Unknown

Giblin builds on incidents from Jefferson's life to uncover the shy, quiet nature of the man who would become the author of the Declaration of Independence and the third president of the United States. Important dates in his life are appended, as are quotes from his lectures. A high-quality biography.

Author Notes

James Cross Giblin was born in Cleveland, Ohio on July 8, 1933. He received a B. A. from Western Reserve University in 1954 and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Columbia University in 1955. He pursued playwriting before taking a job at Criterion Books in 1959. He focused on the children's book field. In the early to mid-1960s, he was an associate editor at Lothrop, Lee and Shepard. In 1967, he moved to Seabury Press, where he became editor-in-chief, spearheading the development of the children's book line there, later called Clarion Books. When Houghton Mifflin bought Clarion in the late 1970s, he moved to the company as Clarion's publisher. As an editor, he worked with such authors as Eileen Christelow and Mary Downing Hahn.

His first children's book, The Scarecrow Book written with Dale Ferguson, was published in 1980. During his lifetime, he wrote more than 20 books for young readers, mainly nonfiction, historical nonfiction, and biographies. He won several awards including the 1983 National Book Award for Chimney Sweeps: Yesterday and Today and the 2003 Sibert Medal for The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler. He died on April 10, 2016 at the age of 82.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (3)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 3-5-The author and illustrator team that produced George Washington (Scholastic, 1992) score again with this readable, beautifully illustrated title. Through abundant, well-placed text, Giblin builds on incidents from his subject's life to uncover the shy, quiet nature of the man who would become the author of the Declaration of Independence and the third president of the United States. Dooling's oil paintings provide dazzling backgrounds. Each double-page spread is richly executed, making Jefferson, the boy and the man, come alive. Important dates in his life are appended as are quotes from his letters. There is a full description of Monticello, followed by a detailed index for both text and artwork. A high-quality biography.-Dot Minzer, North Barrington School, Barrington, IL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Horn Book Review

Giblin highlights Jefferson's principal accomplishments, indicates his personal tragedies, and hints at the contradictions inherent in his attitude toward slavery. While the brevity of the text may at times seem to reduce complexity to simplicity, in later years, young readers can build upon this approachable interpretation without feeling misinformed. Ind. From HORN BOOK 1994, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

Gr. 4-6, younger for reading aloud. In the same picture-book format as the author and illustrator's George Washington (1992), this volume presents the life of Thomas Jefferson. Giblin records the significant events in Jefferson's long and varied career with enough personal incidents and sidelights to give readers some sense of the man himself, as well as his place in history. Despite the limits of a 48-page picture book, Giblin portrays Jefferson as a complicated, many-sided man and is candid about such issues as his involvement with slavery. Dooling's dramatic oil paintings stretch across each double-page spread. In this series of impressionistic illustrations of people and places, Jefferson appears first as a three-year-old, gradually maturing in the pictures as the story progresses, a series of transitions Dooling manages with finesse. The book ends with a helpful chronology, a series of intriguing quotations from Jefferson's letters, and a section describing Jefferson's beloved home, Monticello. Historically accurate and visually handsome, this is the best Jefferson biography available for young students. ~--Carolyn Phelan