Jeanne Birdsall (born 1951) is an American photographer and writer of

children's books A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younge ...

. She is best known for her five-volume series about the Penderwick family. '' The Penderwicks'', the first book in the series, won the 2005

National Book Award for Young People's Literature The National Book Award for Young People's Literature is one of five annual National Book Awards, which are given by the National Book Foundation (NBF) to recognize outstanding literary work by US citizens. They are awards "by writers to writers".< ...

Life

Birdsall was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, Pennsylvania and grew up in the suburbs. Birdsall has one sibling, a sister who is four years older than she. She decided to become a writer at the age of ten — but she didn't start until she was forty-one. She worked first on other jobs, most notably as a photographer, and some of her work has been displayed in galleries around the world.

Writer

Birdsall's first book was published when she was 54. '' The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy'' introduced the Penderwick sisters and won the 2005 National Book Award. Her second book was a sequel, ''The Penderwicks on Gardam Street'' (2008). Her third book was ''The Penderwicks at Point Mouette'' (2011), followed by ''The Penderwicks in Spring'' (2015)."About the Penderwicks"
Jeannne Birdsall (jeannebirdsall.com). Retrieved 2008-06-16 The fifth and final book in the series, ''The Penderwicks at Last'', was published on May 15, 2018. Birdsall's first

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The images ...

, '' Flora's Very Windy Day'', was illustrated by Matt Phelan and published under the Clarion Books imprint in August 2010, and followed by '' Lucky and Squash'' in 2012.

Works

* ''The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy'' (

Alfred A. Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers in ...

, 2005) —winner of the National Book Award"National Book Awards – 2005"

National Book Foundation The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established, "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America". Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: 'The Joy Luc ...

(NBF). Retrieved 2012-04-15.
(With acceptance speech by Birdsall, introduction by panelist

Liz Rosenberg Lizbeth Meg Rosenberg (born February 3, 1955) is an American poet, novelist, children's book author and book reviewer. She is currently a professor of English at Binghamton University, and in previous years has taught at Colgate University, Sara ...

, and information about all five Young People's Literature authors and books.) * ''The Penderwicks on Gardam Street'' (Knopf, 2008) * ''Flora's Very Windy Day'' (Clarion/

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

, 2010), children's picture book illustrated by Matt Phelan * ''

The Penderwicks at Point Mouette ''The Penderwicks at Point Mouette'' is a children's novel by Jeanne Birdsall, published by Knopf in 2011. It is the third book in ''The Penderwicks'' series, and is preceded by ''The Penderwicks on Gardam Street''. The remaining books in the ...

'' (Knopf, 2011) * '' Lucky and Squash'' (Harper/

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News ...

, 2012), picture book illus.

Jane Dyer Jane Dyer (born 1949) is an American author and illustrator of more than fifty books, including Amy Krouse Rosenthal's ''Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons, Cookies'' series and Jeanne Birdsall's ''Lucky and Squash''. Background Dyer grew up in N ...

* ''The Penderwicks in Spring'' (Knopf, 2015) * ''My Favorite Pets: by Gus W. for Ms. Smolinski's Class'' (Knopf, 2016), picture book illus.

Harry Bliss Harry Bliss (born March 9, 1964, in Rochester, New York) is an American cartoonist and illustrator. Bliss has illustrated many books, and produced hundreds of cartoons and 25 covers for ''The New Yorker''. Bliss has a syndicated single-panel comi ...

* ''The Penderwicks At Last'' (Knopf, 2018)

Collections

* Philadelphia Museum of Art * Smithsonian American Art Museum

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Birdsall, Jeanne 1951 births American children's writers National Book Award for Young People's Literature winners Writers from Northampton, Massachusetts Writers from Philadelphia Boston University alumni Living people Date of birth missing (living people) American women children's writers 21st-century American women American women photographers