Paul Fleischman

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Paul Fleischman is an American children's author, and is the son of Newbery Medal winner Sid Fleischman. Fleischman won the 1989 Newbery Medal for his book Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices.

Paul Fleischman grew up in Santa Monica, California, hearing his father, Sid Fleischman, read his books aloud chapter by chapter, as they were written. Both have won the Newbery Medal, Sid for The Whipping Boy in 1987, and Paul for Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices in 1989.

At 19, after two years of college in Berkeley, Fleischman took a cross-country bicycle and train trip, ending up living in a 200-year-old house in New Hampshire. The years there, living a modified 18th century lifestyle--wood heating, no electricity or phone--kindled an interest in the past, led to his historical fiction dealing with the Puritans' Indian wars, Philadelphia's yellow fever epidemic, the Civil War, and the naturalists Townsend and Nuttall.

His musical interests are reflected in his collections of poems for two and four speakers. Multiple points of view and a bridging of plays and prose have been hallmarks of his work, beginning with Bull Run, an account of the battle through the eyes of 16 different characters, continuing through Seedfolks, the 50-voice aural collage Seek, and most recently Zap, which combines seven plays into one.