Russell Freedman

For those of a similar name, see Russell Freeman (disambiguation).

Russell A. Freedman (born October 11, 1929 in San Francisco) is an American biographer and the author of nearly 50 books for young people. He may be known best for winning the 1988 Newbery Medal with his work Lincoln: A Photobiography.[1]

Biography

Books were an important part of Freedman's life. His father worked for a company, and his mother worked in a bookstore.

He attended college first at San Jose State University and then University of California at Berkeley, where he graduated with a degree in English Literature. After college, Freedman was drafted into the armed forces and served in the Korean War, for the United States. He now has family living in Alabama, where his sister's family settled to in 1978.

Later, Freedman worked as a reporter and editor for the Associated Press in San Francisco until the mid-1950s, when he took an advertising job in Manhattan. It was during this time that Freedman wrote his first novel after reading an article about a blind teenage boy who invented a Braille typewriter. The book, Teenagers Who Made History, was published in 1961. After its publication, Freedman quit his job and became a full-time writer.[2]

As a writer of children's nonfiction, Freedman is often noted for his thorough research, and was praised for his "meticulous integration of words and images"[3]

Freedman currently lives in New York City.

Selected works

Awards

In 1998 Freedman received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal from the professional children's librarians, which recognizes a living author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made "a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children". At the time it was awarded every three years.[4]

He received one of the 2007 National Humanities Medals.[5]

Books[2]

Lincoln: A Photobiography

Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery

The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Indian Chiefs

Kids At Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor

An Indian Winter

Children of the Wild West

Buffalo Hunt

The Life and Death of Crazy Horse

Immigrant Kids

Getting Born

References

  1. ↑ "Newbery Medal and Honor Books, 1922–Present". ALSC. ALA.
      "The John Newbery Medal". ALSC. ALA. Retrieved 2013-06-11.
  2. 1 2 "Russell Freedman". ASTAL - Rhode Island College. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  3. ↑ Scheuerman, Daniel. "AWARDS & HONORS: 2007 NATIONAL HUMANITIES MEDALIST Russell Freedman". National Endowment for the Humanities. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  4. ↑ "Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, Past winners". Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC). American Library Association (ALA).
      "About the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award". ALSC. ALA. Retrieved 2013-06-11.
  5. ↑ "6 Academics Receive National Honors in Arts and Humanities", Chronicle of Higher Education, Nov. 16, 2007. summary

External links


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