Azore, Barbara 1934- [A pseudonym] (Barbara A. Chamberlain)

Personal

Born August 12, 1934, in Hounslow, Middlesex, England; immigrated to Canada, 1967; married (divorced); children: Martin, Andrew, Katherine. Education: University of London, diploma of sociology, 1958. Hobbies and other interests: Fold dancing, theater, watercolor painting, travel, reading, playing Scrabble.

Addresses

Home—Canada. E-mail—azore@telus.net.

Career

Edmonton Public Schools, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, laboratory aide and library aide, 1970-97. Edmonton Childbirth Education Association, founder and president, 1968-84; WECAM Food Co-operative, volunteer, 2000—.

Member

Canadian Children's Book Centre, Writers Guild of Alberta, Young Alberta Book Society.

Awards, Honors

Included in Best of the Best list, Edmonton Public Schools, 2005, for Wanda and the Wild Hair.

Writings

Wanda and the Wild Hair (juvenile), illustrated by Georgia Graham, Tundra Books (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2005.

Wanda and the Frogs (juvenile), illustrated by Georgia Graham, Tundra Books of Northern New York (Plattsburgh, NY), 2007.

Poetry represented in anthologies. Contributor to periodicals, including Birth Issues and Edmonton Journal. Editor, ECEA Newsletter, 1968-76, and University of Alberta Volunteers Newsletter, c. 1980s.

Author's work has been translated into Chinese.

Sidelights

As the creator of Wanda, an engaging fictional character with an unruly mop of curly hair, Barbara Azore shares her imagination and sense of fun with young children. Wanda makes her first appearance in Wanda and the Wild Hair, as her unruly tangle of hair attracts comments from her family, and even several stray objects. Although the girl finally agrees to let a hairdresser tame her unruly coiffure, she ultimately decides that letting her locks decide their own style suits her just fine. In Resource Links, Lorie Lavallee noted that Azore's tale incorporates "themes of self-esteem and identity, responsibility," and "problem solving," all of which "are cleverly enmeshed in a series of comical misadventures."

Wanda makes a second appearance in Wanda and the Frogs, once again brought to life in what Resource Links contributor Linda Berezowski described as "charming chalk pastel illustrations" created by artist Gloria Graham. In Wanda and the Frogs Wanda locates some tadpoles on her walk to school and, over the weeks that follow, she and her classmates watch as the tiny creatures grow and develop. When they reach frog stage, Wanda's teacher announces that the creatures must be returned to nature, but the mop-headed girl has other ideas. Berezowski praised Azore's picture-book sequel as "delightful," adding that the story ends with "a touching moral about compassion." The "substantial text" in Wanda and the Frogs "palatably folds in a bit of educational information," observed a Kirkus Review writer, while in School Library Journal Maura Bresnahan dubbed Azore's story as "perfect for a read-aloud tie-in to a … frog-themed storyhour."

"I did not start writing children's stories until 1987, the year after my first grandchild was born," Azore once commented. "I knitted him picture sweaters and, to go with them, wrote and illustrated stories about the pictures. As four more grandchildren came along, I did the same for them and later for a great-niece and nephew. None of these stories were intended for publication.

"I was five years old when World War II began, and when my grandson reached his fifth birthday I wrote and illustrated a picture book for him about my experiences as a child during the war. A copy has been given to each grandchild on his or her fifth birthday. There is also a copy of the story in the archives of the Second World War Experience Centre in Leeds, England.

"Wanda and the Wild Hair was written for my great-niece in 1997. It was published as a result of my entering a new story in the Writers' Union of Canada Writing for Children competition in 1999. I was later informed that my story, ‘A Chicken for Christmas,’ had placed second out of more than 800 entries, but there was no second prize. However, one of the readers asked if she could take the story to Kathy Lowinger at Tundra Books. Ms. Lowinger asked me if I had any other stories. Wanda and the Wild Hair was the last story I had written and was already on the computer, and it was this story that was accepted for publication. I like to think of Wanda as the child I would have liked to be and wasn't. Edmonton public schools have put Wanda and the Wild Hair on the list of resource books for their elementary social-studies curriculum. Teachers in the Edmonton public schools are using Wanda and the Frogs in the Life Cycles section of the Grade 3 science curriculum.

"Children often ask how I go about writing a story, and I have to admit that I do most of my ‘writing’ in bed. The idea (or inspiration) comes first. In the case of Wanda and the Wild Hair, it was a small wooden pin that I picked up at a garage sale for twenty-five cents. It was a round disc with a happy-type face on it and a bunch of hair sticking out of the top. Other ideas have come from my memories of my own children and now grandchildren, from experiences with children in general, and from my own childhood."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Canadian Book Review Annual, 2005, Anne Hutchings, review of Wanda and the Wild Hair, p. 440.

Kirkus Reviews, February 15, 2007, review of Wanda and the Frogs.

Resource Links, April, 2005, Lori Lavallee, review of Wanda and the Wild Hair, p. 2; April, 2007, Linda Berezowski, review of Wanda and the Frogs, p. 1.

School Library Journal, March, 2007, Maura Bresnahan, review of Wanda and the Frogs, p. 150.