Deborah Hopkinson

Some Exciting News:

Into the Firestorm and Apples to Oregon are both
on the Oregon Battle of the Books for 2008-09


                                                   
"What Makes a Writer?" 

I am booking school visits now for the 2008-09 year and am working on a fun presentation that will tie in with the Lincoln Bicentennial (ABE LINCOLN CROSSES A CREEK), the centennial of the first explorers at the North Pole (KEEP ON!  The Story of Matthew Henson) and the Darwin Bicentennial.  Writing workshops are also available for smaller class sizes!  

For Oregon schools, it's also a great opportunity to tie into OREGON READS 2009, for which APPLES TO OREGON is the feature selection for young people.  Please contact me at 
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Check out my new blog: http://www.deborahhopkinson.blogspot.com/
 
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REVIEWS FOR INTO THE FIRESTORM

 "...engrossing...this smoke-filled odyssey gives readers vivid glimpses of the disaster's scope, and, in Nicholas'  encounters with his neighbors and other residents, wider insight into the range of human response to sudden catastrophe of any sort. Nicholas is an appealingly uncertain, unselfconscious protagonist, and his upward change of fortunes at the end seems well deserved..."   Booklist


"...Nick discovers that "the true heart of a city is its people." Characterization and action are strong in this memorable tale of a city and a boy who finds his place in the world."   Kirkus

 "Deborah Hopkinson has beautifully woven together fiction and fact in this historical fiction novel. Readers will get a vivid picture of what it was like to be in the city during the 1906 earthquake and will come to appreciate what a desperate and dangerous time it was. In addition they will experience what it was like to be a poor child who only hadhis courage and determination to carry him through." Through the Looking Glass
                            

 
 
 

AN ALA NOTABLE BOOK 
An ALA Best Book for Young Adults


"Real people's stories are woven into a rich narrative of the history: clothmaking, the cotton gin, slavery, the Great Migration, the Great Depression and the continuing problem of child labor around the world. This volume, like the author's Shutting Out the Sky (2003), is a model of superb nonfiction writing and how to use primary sources to create engaging narratives. The prose is clear, the documentation excellent and well-selected photographs support the text beautifully." - Starred Review, Kirkus 

"Rarely have the links between northern industry, southern agriculture, slavery, war, child labor, and poverty been so skillfully distilled for this audience." - Starred Review, Booklist

"Making excellent use of primary sources (even noting when these sources may be less than accurate) and extended with black-and-white photos and period reproductions, this excellent work gives a detailed picture of the effect of cotton production on the social structure of the United States." - Starred Review, School Library Journal

 
 
 

To Celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Empire State Building

Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Picture Book Honor

An ALA Notable Book

Oregon Book Award Finalist

"Superb...Packed with information...A beautiful work befitting its subject." Kirkus, Starred Review

"...nitty-gritty details make the book fascinating and real. Hopkinson and Ransome, who previously joined forces on the award-winning Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, have created a delightful resource about one of the most famous buildings in the world."  Bookpage

 

 

 
 

Dear America: Hear My Sorrow
The Diary of Angela Denoto, A Shirtwaist Worker, New York City 1909

"Angela's story is beautifully told...
Readers will...meet a young girl of substance and courage..."
                                                      -- Greg M. Romaneck, Children's Literature 

March 25, 2007 marks the 87th Anniversary of the Triangle Waist Company fire.

Click Here for Links to the Shirtwaist Strike and Triangle Factory Fire

 
 
 

GIRL WONDER  A BASEBALL STORY IN NINE INNINGS

2003 Parents' Choice Gold Award Winner
Winner of the 2003 Great Lakes Book Award
Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award
Amelia Bloomer Project Book
Jane Addams Award Honor Book
CCBC Choices 2004

Click here for baseball links and lesson plans.

 
 
 

One penny.

In the hot, mean summer of 1933, a penny is enough to buy caramels or red hots or peppermint sticks or licorice strings. Is it enough to buy Miss Elsie's Strawberry Farm?

There's only one way to find out. Davey takes a deep breath and shouts, "One penny for Strawberry Farm!"

Set during the Great Depression, and illustrated by Caldecott Honor artist Rachel Isadora, Saving Strawberry Farm brings Davey's Midwestern town to life as friends and neighbors plan to save the farm the only way they can -- with a secret penny auction!

 
 

APPLES TO OREGON

Winner of the Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Text
Winner of the Spur Storytelling Award
Oregon Book Award Finalist
Featured in the New York Times Book Review

SLJ Best Books of 2004             An ALA Notable Book
Booklinks Lasting Connections        Junior Library Guild Selection
Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2004               Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award 2005

 
 
 

Shutting out the Sky
Life in the Tenements of New York 1880-1924

NCTE Orbis Pictus Award Honor Book
NYPL Book for the Teen Age
Booklist Editors' Choice
Booklinks Lasting Connection
A Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People
Sydney Taylor Notable Book
CCBC Choices List
James Madison Award Honor Book

"Nonfiction at its best."  -- Starred Review, Kirkus
"...simply a fascinating read." -- Starred Review, School Library Journal
"Amazing documentary photos...as well as riveting quotes...add depth and drama..." - - Starred Review, Booklist
"...handsomely illustrated and well-researched..." --The New York Times


 
 
 

A PACKET OF SEEDS

Featured in The New York Times:

"The trip west is conveyed without words in one full-page picture of a tiny wagon on a very long trail going from green hills and trees toward a place that is brown and bare. By the end of the story, that vastness and desolation have been tamed; the warmth of springtime and reawakened hope is palpable." 
                                                                 -- Stephanie Deutsch

 "Hopkinson and Andersen team up again in this understated, quiet story of pioneers, the prairie, and the healing power of gardening.  Andersen's...illustrations tell the story in rose sunsets, lavender mountains, and a prairie that nearly engulfs the little wagon as it makes its way west... Lovely." -- Starred Review, Kirkus


Now Available!

ALA Notable Book

Winner of the IRA Award

Nominated for the Texas Bluebonnet Award 2005-06

Get Ready for Darwin's


Billy and the Rebel 2005


Nominated for State Awards:

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