Thursday, January 18, 2007

Author Birthdays

To my embarrassment, I forgot to check my list of author birthdays and have missed two recently, but have caught the third today ! Here there are, in chronological order:

Robert C O'Brien, author of (amongst others) Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (Review), which won the 1972 Newbery Medal and was a childhood favourite of mine, was born on January 11, 1918.

I found out just too late in the day, yesterday, that Robert Cormier, author of The Chocolate War in 1974, which apparently became one of the fifty most frequently banned books in America's public libraries and schools in the 1990s, was born on January 17, 1928. I must confess I've never read The Chocolate War, but having learnt that fact about its banning, I'm curious to read it, just to find out why...

Finally, 18 January 1882 saw the birth of A A Milne, creator of Winnie the Pooh. I don't recall reading Winnie as a child, but somewhere I possess a copy of Winnie the Pooh: Complete Collection of Stories and Poems, which I read with great curiosity when I was in my 20s.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I read The Chocolate War for the first time last year - and reviewed it here:

http://palimpsest.org.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=2209 -

and there is very little to object to - a smattering of language, an ethical dilemma as to whether you keep on standing up to bullies, but not much else. It deserves a wider readership, and more bookshops to stock Cormier's work generally.

Michele said...

I'll take a look at your review...

Anonymous said...

I wasn't hugely fussed on The Chocolate War… long time since I've read it though.

I've possibly said this before on here, but The Silver Crown by Robert C O'Brien is one of my favourite children's books, and definitely worth a read!

Michele said...

I'll have a look for that O'Brien on the library catalogue, Rhian...

Anonymous said...

I like your author birthday features. Thanks for catching up with these! I loved Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, though I never got into the Chocolate War for some reason.

Michele said...

Thanks Jen - I'm glad you like it. My laptop now has a daily reminder set to ping up so I will remember to check my ever-growing list each day !

I also adore Mrs Frisby...