Virginia Euwer Wolff (born August 25, 1937) is an American author of
children's literature
Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader.
Children's ...
.
Her award-winning series ''Make Lemonade'' features a 14-year-old girl named LaVaughn, who babysits for the children of a 17-year-old single mother. There are three books. The second, ''
True Believer'', won the 2001
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".< ...
.
["National Book Awards – 2001"]
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 ...
. Retrieved 2012-01-26.
(With text acceptance speech by Wolff.)
The second and third, ''This Full House'' (2009), garnered ''
Kirkus Reviews
''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...
'' starred reviews. She was the recipient of the 2011
NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature
The NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature is an international children's literary award founded in 2003 and given every odd-number year by ''World Literature Today''. The prize is an offshoot of the Neustadt International Prize for Literatu ...
, honoring her entire body of work.
Biography
Virginia Euwer Wolff was born in
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...
in 1937. She grew up in a log house with no electricity, on an apple and pear orchard. In 1945, she began violin lessons, which fermented her love of music. She attended the girls' school St. Helen's Hall (now
Oregon Episcopal School
Oregon Episcopal School (OES) is an American private, coeducational, college preparatory, day and boarding school in the Raleigh Hills area of Portland, Oregon. It was preceded by St. Helen's Hall, a day and boarding school for girls establish ...
) and
Smith College
Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...
. She married Arthur Richard Wolff in 1959. They divorced in 1976.
In 2003, St. Helen's Hall honored Wolff with a Distinguished Alumna Award. She has lived in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C., but now reads, writes, and plays chamber music in Oregon.
Books
*''This Full House'' First ed. New York: HarperCollins Children's Books 2009.
— concluding the Lemonade trilogy
*
Kirkus Review (starred) 02/01/2009*''
True Believer'' First ed. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2001.
— sequel to ''Make Lemonade''
*
Kirkus Review (starred) 02/01/2001**Award: 2001
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
, Young People's Literature (U.S.)
[
**Award: Best Children's Books 2001 by Publishers Weekly.
**]Junior Library Guild
Junior Library Guild, formerly the Junior Literary Guild, is a commercial book club devoted to juvenile literature. It was created in 1929 as one of the enterprises of the Literary Guild, an adult book club created in 1927 by Samuel W. Craig and H ...
Selection
**Top Ten Book of the Year from the Young Adult Library Services Association
The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), established in 1957, is a division of the American Library Association. YALSA is a national association of librarians, library workers and advocates whose mission is to expand the capacity of l ...
Kirkus Review 05/01/1998
Selection
*'' Make Lemonade.'' First ed., Henry Holt and Co., 1993 (and many other editions)
*
Kirkus Review 05/01/1993
**Citation: American Library Association Notable Children's Book American Library Association Notable lists are announced each year in January by various divisions within the American Library Association (ALA). There are six lists, part of the larger ALA awards structure.
* ''ALA Notable Books for Adults'' (est ...
**Award: Booklist Top of the List winner
*''The Mozart Season.'' First ed. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1991.
*
Kirkus Review 05/15/1991
**Award: 2011 Phoenix Award
The Phoenix Award annually recognizes one English-language children's book published twenty years earlier that did not then win a major literary award. It is named for the mythical bird phoenix that is reborn from its own ashes, signifying the ...
from the Children's Literature Association
The Children's Literature Association (ChLA) is a non-profit association, based in the United States, of scholars, critics, professors, students, librarians, teachers, and institutions dedicated to studying children's literature.Margaret W. Denman- ...
as the best English-language children's book that did not a major award when it was originally published twenty years earlier. That is named for the mythical bird phoenix, which is reborn from its ashes, to suggest the book's rise from obscurity.[
*''Probably Still Nick Swansen.'' First ed. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1988.
*''Rated PG'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 1981.
]
See also
Notes
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolff, Virginia Euwer
1937 births
American children's writers
National Book Award for Young People's Literature winners
Smith College alumni
Writers from Portland, Oregon
Living people
Oregon Episcopal School alumni