Author of the MonthJean Fritz!

Birthday: November 16, 1915

Jean Fritz wrote both nonfiction and fiction.

!She is most well known for the biographies she

wrote. !

Find these books in the biography section of our

library.

What is your favorite part of the writing process? The research. I love it! I love digging down and

finding little, out-of-the-way nuggets of information that are funny, amazing, etc. It's the out-of-the-way things that attract me and that I want as part of the

book. For instance, when I wrote about King George, I couldn't get over that he was such an oddball kind of man. So many things were funny. For example, after

he decided who to marry based on looking at pictures, he made her wedding dress himself. She

didn't know anything about it. At the wedding it kept slipping off her shoulders. When he was crowned that day, they were going to make a big deal and have all the lights light at the same time. But sparks went off

and hit everyone and it was a big mess. Those are the kinds of things I like to learn and write about.

Jean Fritz grew up in China.

She wrote a memoir

about her life growing up there.

This book won a Newbery Honor.

“I did historical fiction first.

But I got so frustrated with having to fix up fictional plots that I

was glad to finally get away from all that, and just tell things the way they happened - which often is a lot stranger than anything anyone

could make up!''

Do you have any advice and/or tips on writing?!

I advise children to keep a diary and to write not just what

happens but what they feel. If you've read a book-give your opinion about it. If something

makes you happy, sad, excited-write it all down. I think children too often write what they think their teachers or parents want.

Children should feel they're writing out of themselves.