Johanna Hurwitz (born October 9, 1937) is an American author of more than sixty children's books. She has sold millions of books in many different languages.

Life and career

Hurwitz graduated from

Queens College, New York Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body representing more than 170 ...

with a degree in English and

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

with a master's in library science. After many years working as a librarian, Hurwitz wrote her first book, ''

Busybody Nora ''Busybody Nora'' is a children's book written by Johanna Hurwitz and illustrated by Susan Jeschke. It was first published in 1976. It was Hurwitz's first book and was an early chapter book. Her daughter Naomi was the inspiration for Nora, and ...

'', in 1976, one of the first in the

chapter book A chapter book is a story book intended for intermediate readers, generally age 7–10. Unlike picture books for beginning readers, a chapter book tells the story primarily through prose rather than pictures. Unlike books for advanced readers, ...

genre for transitioning young readers from shorter stories to novels. ''Busybody Nora'' took 17 tries for publishing companies to publish the book. Ravenstone Press published the book three months after Hurwitz submitted the story. Hurwitz's books include biographies for children on subjects such as

Anne Frank Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – )Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new light on Anne Fra ...

Astrid Lindgren Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren (; ; 14 November 1907 – 28 January 2002) was a Swedish writer of fiction and screenplays. She is best known for several children's book series, featuring Pippi Longstocking, Emil of Lönneberga, Karlsson-on- ...

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

, and Helen Keller. Her 1999 book, ''The Just Desserts Club'', combined related short stories with recipes. Hurwitz is the aunt of

Garance Franke-Ruta Garance Franke-Ruta is the executive editor of GEN by Medium. She has worked as Washington editor of Yahoo News and editor in chief of Yahoo Politics, Voices columnist and politics editor of ''The Atlantic'' Online, national web politics editor ...

and

Ted Frank Theodore H. Frank (born December 14, 1968) is an American lawyer, activist, and legal writer, based in Washington, D.C. He is the counsel of record and petitioner in '' Frank v. Gaos'', the first Supreme Court case to deal with the issue of '' c ...

.''Much Ado About Aldo'' (1978).

Selected works

Fiction

*''

'', ( William Morrow, 1976) *'' Baseball Fever'', illustrated by Ray Cruz ( William Morrow, 1981) *''

Class President A class president, also known as a class representative, is usually the leader of a student body class, and presides over its class cabinet or organization within a student council. In a grade school, class presidents are generally elected by th ...

'', illustrated by Sheila Hamanaka (William Morrow, 1990) *'' New Shoes for Silvia'', illustrated by

Jerry Pinkney Jerry Pinkney (December 22, 1939 – October 20, 2021) was an American illustrator and writer of children's literature. Pinkney illustrated over 100 books since 1964, including picture books, nonfiction titles and novels. Pinkney's works addresse ...

(William Morrow, 1993)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hurwitz, Johanna 1937 births Living people American children's writers Columbia University School of Library Service alumni Queens College, City University of New York alumni Place of birth missing (living people) American women children's writers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American biographers American women novelists American women biographers 21st-century American women