Christopher Paul Curtis

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Christopher Paul Curtis
Born (1953-05-10) May 10, 1953
Flint, Michigan, USA
Occupation Writer, speaker
Alma mater University of Michigan-Flint
Period 1995–present
Genres Children's literature, especially historical fiction
Notable work(s)
Notable award(s) Newbery Medal
2000

Christopher Paul Curtis (born May 10, 1953)[1][2] is an African-American writer of children's books. He may be known best for the Newbery Medal-winning Bud, Not Buddy and the critically acclaimed The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963. Bud, Not Buddy is the first novel to receive both the Coretta Scott King Award and the Newbery Medal. His book Elijah of Buxton (winner of the Scott O'Dell Historical Fiction Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, and a Newbery Honor) is set in a free Black community in Ontario that was founded in 1849 by runaway slaves. His latest book, The Mighty Miss Malone, was released in January 2012.

Biography

Christopher Paul Curtis was born in Flint, Michigan, on May 10, 1953 to Dr. Herman Elmer Curtis, a chiropodist and factory worker/supervisor, and Leslie Jane Curtis, an educator. Curtis is an alumnus of the University of Michigan-Flint (UM-Flint).

Personal life

Curtis is the father of two daughters, Ayaan Leslie, born in 2010, and Ebyaan Hothan, born in 2012 to Curtis and his wife, Habon Aden Curtis. Christopher and Habon are expecting their third child early this year. Christopher modeled characters in Bud, Not Buddy after his two grandfathers—Earl “Lefty” Lewis, a Negro league baseball pitcher, and 1930s bandleader Herman E. Curtis,of Herman Curtis and the Dusky Devastators of the Depression.[3] The city of Flint plays an important role in many of Curtis's books.

Education and Work

Curtis is a product of the Flint Public school system. He attended Dewey Elementary, Clark Elementary, Pierce Elementary (in the Academically Gifted Program), Whittier Junior High School, McKinley Junior High School (where, in 1967, he became the first African-American student to be elected to student council in the school's 32-year history), and Flint Southwestern High School. Graduating from the University of Michigan-Flint in 1999, he received his bachelor's degree at the same ceremony. During the program every fourth-grade student in Flint comes to UM-Flint's auditorium to hear a presentation by Curtis. Afterwards they are provided with a story starter that Curtis has written and given the challenge of finishing the story. A winner from each of Flint's elementary schools is chosen by the teachers to return to UM-Flint with their families for an award ceremony where Curtis and Dr. Casement announce an overall winner. The stated goal of the challenge is to expose Flint's youth to the university environment and to encourage writing as a means of expression.

The summer after graduating from high school Curtis became a member of a Lansing, Michigan based theatrical/musical group called Suitcase Theatre. The group was directed by Powell Lindsay and performed musical numbers and the works of Langston Hughes. The group toured and performed in Belgium, Germany, France, England, Canada, and the United States.

Curtis spent the first 13 years after high school on the assembly line of Flint’s historic Fisher Body Plant #1. His job entailed hanging car doors on Electra 225s and LeSabres, which, he later claimed, left him with an aversion to getting into large cars, particularly Buicks. After quitting Fisher Body he took a series of low-paying jobs. He worked as a groundskeeper at Stonegate Manor housing cooperative in Flint, Flint campaign co-manager for United States senator Donald Riegle, customer service representative for Mich Con in Detroit, temporary worker for Manpower in Detroit, and warehouse clerk for Automated Data Processing in Allen Park, Michigan. Curtis took a year off of work to write his first novel, The Watsons Go To Birmingham: 1963.

Curtis has been a full-time author and lecturer/speaker since 1998.

In 2009 he received a Doctor of Laws Honoris Causa from the University of Windsor in Windsor, Ontario.

Published Books

The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 - When Kenny's 13-year-old brother, Byron, gets to be too much trouble, the Watsons head from Flint, Michigan, to Birmingham, Alabama, to visit Grandma Sands, the one person who can shape Byron up. But the events that shake Birmingham in the summer of 1963 will change Kenny's life for ever.[4]

Bud, Not Buddy - (1999) It is 1936, in Flint, Michigan. Times may be hard, and ten-year-old Bud may be a motherless boy on the run, but Bud's got a few things going for him. Bud goes to find who he believes is his father, named Herman E. Calloway. The book was released in September 1999.[4]

Bucking the Sarge - Luther T. Farrell has got to get out of Flint, Michigan. He just needs to escape the evil empire of the local slumlord, "The Sarge", AKA his mother.[4]

Mr. Chickee's Messy Mission - (2008) When Russell's dog, Rodney Rodent, jumps into a mural to chase a demonic-looking gnome and disappears, the Flint Future Detectives are on the case.[4]

Mr. Chickee's Funny Money - (2007) Mr. Chickee, the genial blind man in the neighborhood, gives 9-year-old Steven a mysterious bill with 15 zeros on it and the image of a familiar but startling face.[4]

Elijah of Buxton (2007) A story based on the real settlement of former slaves who escaped to Canada on the Underground Railroad.

The Mighty Miss Malone - (2012) This book is set in depression-era Gary, Indiana, and Flint, Michigan. The work is a spin-off from Bud, Not Buddy.

Curtis's next book, Benji & Red (Formerly titled "The Madman of Piney Woods") returns readers to Buxton, Ontario, this time in 1901. It is a story told, in alternating chapters, by two twelve-year-old boys. One, Alvin "Red" Stockard, is an Irish boy living in Chatham, Ontario, and the other, Benjamin "Benji" Alston, is an African-Canadian boy living in the settlement of Buxton. Several characters from "Elijah of Buxton" make brief reappearances.

Awards/honors/nominations

THE WATSONS GO TO BIRMINGHAM-1963

  • Newbery Honor Book.
  • Coretta Scott King Honor Book.
  • A Publisher's Weekly Best Book Of The Year.
  • A New York Times Book Review Best Book Of The Year.
  • A California Young Reader Medal Winner.
  • A Maine Student Book Award Winner.
  • An American Library Association (ALA) Best Books For Young Adults.
  • An ALA Notable Children's Book.
  • A Horn Book Fanfare.
  • A Texas Lone Star Reading List Title.
  • A Bank Street College Best Book Of The Year.
  • A Massachusetts Children's Book Award Winner.
  • A NCSS-CBC Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies.
  • A NCSS-CBC Notable Children's Trade Book In The field of Language Arts.
  • A New Mexico Land Of Enchantment Book Award Winner.
  • An Arkansas Charlie May Simon Children's Book Award Winner.
  • A Society of Children's Book Writers and illustrators Golden Kite Award Winner.
  • A New York Times' Top One Hundred Books Of The Year, 1996. (The only book for young readers to be so honored.)
  • A Jane Addams Peace Award Honor Book.
  • An American Library Association Top Ten Best Book/Quick Pick.
  • An International Reading Association Notable Book For a Global Society.
  • An Indiana Department of Education Read Aloud List Book.
  • A Bulletin For the Center of Children's Books Blue Ribbon.
  • A Booklist Top 25 Black History Picks for Youth Book.
  • An International Reading Association Young Adult Choice.
  • A 1995 Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Golden Kite Award.
  • A New Mexico Land Of Enchantment Book Award Winner.
  • A Top Choice List of 2000 for Children's Literature.
  • A Virginia Young Readerr's Program Book.
  • A Indiana Young Hoosier Book Award Nominee.
  • A Nevada Young Reader Award Nominee.
  • A Nebraska Golden Sower Award Nominee.
  • A Missouri Mark Twain Award Nominee.
  • A Minnesota Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award Nominee.
  • A Michigan Reading Association Children's Choic Award Nominee.
  • A Kansas William Allen White Award Nominee.
  • A Illinois Rebecca Caudill Award Nominee.
  • A Hawaii Nene Award Nominee
  • A USBBY Janusz Korzak Literary Prize Nominee.
  • A New Hampshire Great Stoneface Book Award Nominee.
  • A Tennessee Volunteer State Award Nominee.
  • A South Carolina Junior Book Award Nominee.
  • A Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award Nominee.
  • A Pacific Northwest Young Reader's Choice Award Nominee.
  • A Oklahoma Sequoyah Young Adult Book Award Nominee.
  • 2013 named by The New York Public Library as one of the 100 GREAT CHLDREN’S BOOKS IN THE LAST 100 YEARS.

BUD, NOT BUDDY.

  • A 2000 Newbery Medal Winner. (First African-American man to win the award.)
  • A 2000 Coretta Scott KIng Author Award Winner.
  • A School Library Journal Best Book Of The Year.
  • An International Readers Association (IRA) Children's Book Award For Older Readers.
  • A NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book.
  • A Publisher's Weekly Best Book Of The Year.
  • An ALA Best Books For Young Adults.
  • An ALA Notable Children's Book.
  • A New York Times Notable Book.
  • A Bulletin For The Center of Children's Books Blue Ribbon book.
  • An Arizona Young Readers Award winner (Teen Category).
  • A Florida Sunshine State Young Reader's Award.
  • A Virginian Capitol Choices List.
  • A Massachusetts Chiildren's Book Award Honor Book.
  • A New Mexico Book Of Enchantment Book Award Winner.
  • A Pacific Northwest Young Reader's Choice Award Winner.
  • A Young Reader's Choice Award.
  • A Sugar Maple Awards Winner Grades 4-6
  • A Hawaii Nene Award Winner.
  • A Kentucky Bluegrass Award Winner.
  • A Kansas William White Award Winner.
  • A Tennessee Volunteer State Award Winner.
  • A South Dakota Prairie Pasque Award Winner.
  • A Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award Winner.
  • A Vermont Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award Winner.
  • A SCBWI Golden Kite Award Winner.
  • A Great Lakes Booksellers Association Children's Chapter Book Award Winner.
  • Booklist Top Ten Historical Fiction For Youth.
  • A Louisiana Young Reader's Choice Award Nominee.
  • A Illinois Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Nominee.
  • A South Carolina Junior Book Award Nominee.
  • A Wyoming Inidan Paintbrush Award Nominee.
  • A Wisconsin Golden Archer Book Award Nominee.
  • A Ohio Buckeye Children's Book Award Grade 6-8 Nominee.
  • A North Dakota Flicker Tale Children's Book Award Nominee.
  • A Texas Bluebonnet Award Nominee.

MR. CHICKEE'S FUNNY MONEY

  • A Parent's Choice Gold Award Winner.

BUCKING THE SARGE

  • An ALA Best Books For Young Adults.
  • An ALA Notable Children's Book.
  • A Great Lakes Booksellers Association Children's Chapter Book Award.
  • A Booklist Children's Editors Choice Award.
  • A USA Today Best Young Adult Book.
  • A SCBWI Golden Kite Award For Fiction Honor Book.
  • A School Library Journal Best Book Of The Year.
  • A Texas Tayhas High School Reading List Title.
  • A Publisher's Weekly Best Children's Book Of The Year.

ELIJAH OF BUXTON

  • A Newbery Honor Book.
  • Coretta Scott King Award Winner.
  • A School Library Journal Best Book.
  • A Parent's Choice Gold Award Winner.
  • IRA Notable Book For A Global Society.
  • A Publisher's Weekly Best Book.
  • A Booklist Editor's Choice.
  • A Scott O'Dell Award Winner.
  • A Kirkus Best Book.
  • A Horn Book Fanfare Book.
  • A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book.
  • A Booklinks Lasting Connections Book.
  • A TD Canadian Children's Literature Award Winner.
  • A Governor General's Award Children's Text Finalist.
  • A Canadian Library Association Book Of The Year.
  • An NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book For Young People.
  • A White Ravens by the International Youth Library of 2008, Germany Award.
  • A Geoffrey Bilson Award For Historical Fiction For Young People Award Winner.
  • A Jane Addams Peace Association of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom Book for Older Children Honor Award.
  • A Great Lakes Book Sellers Association's Children's Chapter Book Award.
  • A Red Maple Award Nominee.
  • An NAACP Image Award Nominee.
  • A 2008 Michigan Notable Author Award Winner

Television appearances

Christopher Paul Curtis appeared on The Tavis Smiley Show black dog on PBS on January 11, 2005.

His name has also been part of an answer on the long-running quiz show Jeopardy. The $1600 answer in the category "Hey Bud!" on January 13, 2005 was: "Christopher Paul Curtis won a Newbery medal in 2000 for his children's book, Bud, Not... this." A teacher answered correctly.

He also appeared on The Today Show Book Club to answer questions about his book with Al Roker in 2007.[5]

Curtis won the 2009 Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers' Literature, which honors a "nationally acclaimed author who has made a significant contribution to the field of literature and young adults".[6][7]

On September 29, 2013 The Watsons Go To Birmingham was named as one of the New York Public Library’s 100 GREAT CHLDREN’S BOOKS OF THE LAST 100 YEARS.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Judy Levin, Allison Stark Draper, Christopher Paul Curtis (The Rosen Publishing Group, 2005), ISBN 978-1-4042-0458-4, p.84 (excerpt available at Google Books).
  2. ↑ Frequently Asked Questions at Random House website.
  3. ↑ Christopher Paul Curtis at Random House website.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Books by Christopher Paul Curtis
  5. ↑ http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-US&brand=msnbc&vid=ae37e8bb-a6ed-4aaa-98e9-def509832c72
  6. ↑ Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers' Literature at Tulsa City-County Library website(retrieved May 24, 2009).
  7. ↑ "Tulsa Library announces Zarrow Award winner', Tulsa World, November 12, 2008.

External links

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