Book Review: Lives of the Writers

When seeking the Gilbert and Sullivan book by Kathleen Karr (mentioned in my recent compilation of books about music), I stumbled onto this listing. My library no longer has Kathleen Karr's book, but they have several biographies by Kathleen Krull. Intrigued, I requested one. This delightful children's book introduces kids to twenty famous (or semi-famous, as I didn't recognize a few of the names) authors. Lives of the Writers: Comedies, Tragedies (and What the Neighbors Thought) shares all the tidbits and oddities that make lives interesting. I've studied Dickens for years, yet I was unaware of his obsessive-compulsive traits. Who knew Louisa May Alcott wrote for 14 hours a day, only taking breaks to run? So many of these authors felt they had to write to support their poverty-stricken families. Many went to work at young ages. Stripped of leisurely childhoods, did this prompt them to create fantastical worlds? Many took long walks of ten or twenty miles. This would make a great read-aloud for elementary classrooms. Informative and interesting.