Willa
The Story of Willa Cather, an American Writer
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
“Captivating…” – Booklist
From award-winning author Amy Ehrlich comes an illustrated biography of Willa Cather, one of America’s greatest and most beloved writers.
Willa Cather’s life was a true American success story. A pioneer and determined spirit, Willa didn’t let anything stand in her way. She refused to be discouraged by the fact that in the 1880s women hadn’t written before, because she had many ideas to share. By becoming a trailblazer and following her heart, Willa Cather is remembered today as one of the greatest American writers in history.
Filled with captivating and historically accurate details, as well as gorgeous illustrations by Wendell Minor, this illustrated chapter book is ideal nonfiction for middle graders.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this concise biography of Willa Cather (1873 1947), Ehrlich (With a Mighty Hand) focuses on the profound impact the author's youth had on her writing. Portrayed as idyllic and ever-changing, Cather's early life in Virginia contrasted sharply to the barren Nebraska prairie where she moved, at age nine, and initially thought "she'd come to the end of everything." Fortunately, Cather quickly came to revere her fellow settlers and later incorporated their experiences and her love of the open space into her best-known novels. Throughout, Ehrlich makes good use of engaging details (children "built campfires on the beach and told stories and watched the flickering stars") and imagery ("it was as if her personality and the world she had known were being erased"). Occasionally abrupt changes of time and place result from Ehrlich's telescopic narrative of the half century Cather lived in East Coast cities, but she concludes with a satisfying assessment of the author's literary achievement. Minor's sepia and color paintings bring a warm sense of place to the urban and rural settings, and a timeline and appendix of female writers of Cather's time are included. Ages 7 10.
