Jean Craighead George
Jean Craighead George
Jean Carolyn Craighead Georgewas an American writer of more than one hundred books for children and young adults, including the Newbery Medal-winning Julie of the Wolves and Newbery runner-up My Side of the Mountain. Common themes in George's works are the environment and the natural world. Beside children's fiction, she wrote at least two guides to cooking with wild foods and one autobiography published 30 years before her death, Journey Inward...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth2 July 1919
CountryUnited States of America
Most of these wild animals depart in autumn when the sun changes their behavior and they feel the urge to migrate or go off alone. While they are with us, however, they become characters in my books, articles, and stories.
Every day, I get e-mails from kids who want a tree - a world away from the adult world.
I would just watch the animals, and their stories would roll out when I wrote.
I have discovered I cannot dream up characters as incredible as the ones I meet in the wilderness.
I have a perfect life where I read; I go out into the wilderness and camp. I meet scientists and learn about their studies of wild animals, and then I come home... and start creating the world I have seen.
I first became aware of the delights of the natural world when my father, an entomologist, presented me with what looked like a twig. When it got up and walked, my delight was such that I wrote a poem, 'To a Walking Stick.'
There are always the kids who just love animals. Unfortunately, though, people have become afraid of the outdoors.
Never before had I been offered a contract and advance before a word had been written... I went home and began writing 'Julie of the Wolves.'
Doing interesting things and then writing about them is the best way to become a good writer.
Oh, those golden-yellow eyes of the wolf! You can feel yourself being pulled in. I knew I had been accepted - and that I had spoken to another species.
My writing process is a mix of research, personal experiences, washing the dishes, raising kids while thinking - then writing.
Children are still in love with the wonders of nature, and I am, too. So I write them stories in hopes that they will want to protect all the beautiful creatures and places.
By the time I got to kindergarten, I was surprised to find out I was the only kid with a turkey vulture.
I hope my books empower kids, and that they learn how to work out their problems themselves.