Greenberg, Jan 1942–

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Greenberg, Jan 1942–

PERSONAL: Born December 29, 1942, in St. Louis, MO; daughter of Alexander (a manufacturer) and Lilian (an advertising executive) Schonwald; married Ronald Greenberg (an art dealer), August 31, 1963; children: Lynne, Jeanne, Jacqueline. Education: Washington University, B.A., 1964; Webster University, M.A.T., 1971. Hobbies and other interests: Hiking, reading, bridge, travel.

ADDRESSES: Home and office—St. Louis, MO.

CAREER: St. Louis Public Schools, St. Louis, MO, teacher, 1969–72; Forest Park Community College, St. Louis, instructor in English composition, 1973–75; Webster University, St. Louis, director and instructor in aesthetic education M.A.T. program, 1974–79; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, book reviewer, 1975–80; CEMREL (National Education Laboratory), St. Louis, researcher, 1976–78; freelance writer, 1978–. Presenter of workshops and lectures on aesthetic education and writing for young readers.

MEMBER: PEN, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Missouri Arts Council.

AWARDS, HONORS: American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults citation, 1984, for No Dragons to Slay; Webster University Distinguished Alumni Award, 1986; Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards Honor Book, 1998, for Chuck Close, Up Close; Norman A. Sugarman Children's Biography Award, 2000, for Chuck Close, Up Close; Benjamin Franklin Award Honor, and Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children, both 2001, both for Frank O. Gehry; Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book, 2002, for Heart to Heart; Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children, 2002, for Vincent Van Gogh; Top 10 Art Books for Youth, American Library Association (ALA), 2003, for Romare Bearden; Top 10 Biographies for Youth, ALA, 2003, for Runaway Girl; Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award Honor Book, 2003, for Vincent Van Gogh, 2003, for Action Jackson.

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION; FOR YOUNG ADULTS

(With Sandra Jordan) The Painter's Eye: Learning to Look at Contemporary American Art, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1991.

(With Sandra Jordan) The Sculptor's Eye: Looking at Contemporary American Art, DK Ink (New York, NY), 1993.

(With Sandra Jordan) The American Eye: Eleven Artists of the Twentieth Century, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1995.

(With Sandra Jordan) Chuck Close, Up Close (biography), DK Ink (New York, NY), 1998.

(With Sandra Jordan) Frank O. Gehry: Outside In, DK Ink (New York, NY), 2000.

(With Sandra Jordan) Vincent Van Gogh: Portrait of an Artist, Delacorte (New York, NY), 2001.

(Editor) Heart to Heart: New Poems Inspired by Twentieth-Century American Art, Abrams (New York, NY), 2001.

(With Sandra Jordan) Action Jackson, illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker, Roaring Brook Press (Brookfield, CT), 2002.

Romare Bearden: Collage of Memories, Harry N. Abrams (New York, NY), 2003.

(With Sandra Jordan) Runaway Girl: The Artist Louise Bourgeois, Harry N. Abrams (New York, NY), 2003.

(With Sandra Jordan) Andy Warhol: Prince of Pop, Delacorte Press (New York, NY), 2004.

FICTION; FOR YOUNG ADULTS

A Season In-Between, Farrar, Straus (New York, NY), 1979.

The Iceberg and Its Shadow, Farrar, Straus (New York, NY), 1980.

The Pig-out Blues, Farrar, Straus (New York, NY), 1982.

No Dragons to Slay, Farrar, Straus (New York, NY), 1983.

Bye, Bye, Miss American Pie, Farrar, Straus (New York, NY), 1985.

Exercises of the Heart, Farrar, Straus (New York, NY), 1986.

Just the Two of Us, Farrar, Straus (New York, NY), 1988.

ADAPTATIONS: Action Jackson was adapted to audio, Live Oak Media, 2004.

SIDELIGHTS: As the author of teen fiction, Jan Greenberg finds writing to be a process of discovery, as her young protagonists develop skills by facing life's problems. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1942, Greenberg quickly developed a love of books and reading. She also, however, is fascinated by art. In the 1970s, she and her husband, Ronald Greenberg, began collecting contemporary American art, and soon their house was filled to overflowing. The couple eventually opened an art gallery in their Midwest community that quickly became a center for young artists and musicians. Greenberg has published a number of nonfiction books about art, in addition to her fiction.

Greenberg's first novel, A Season In-Between, is the story of a thirteen-year-old girl who must face the illness and death of her father while engaged by a host of adolescent worries, fears, and concerns. Published in 1979, it was followed a year later by An Iceberg and Its Shadow. In 1982 she released one of her most popular novels, The Pig-out Blues, which introduces Jodie as she struggles with weight fluctuations, as well as a tense relationship with her ultra-thin mother. As a coveted part to play Juliet opposite a handsome Romeo in her school's annual play becomes available, a crash diet is the order of the day, but this plan comes with unforeseen consequences.

Just the Two of Us also finds a young teen coping none too well with the minefield of everyday life. It is not bad enough that Holly Hornby must struggle to finish the seventh grade; now her mother has totally disrupted her future by deciding to leave Manhattan and move to a small town in Iowa. Holly convinces her mom to let her remain in the city for the summer, and she takes up residence at the Applebaum house, home of her best buddy, Max. By summer's end, Holly learns that life with the Applebaums is not as wonderful as she expected and looks forward to joining her mother in Iowa. Reviewing Just the Two of Us for Booklist, Barbara Elleman praised Greenberg for her "firm but easy touch with characters," adding that the book's "lively plot is believable and well paced."

Beginning in the 1990s, Greenberg paired up with Sandra Jordan to write books in the field of art. Their first, The Painter's Eye: Learning to Look at Contemporary American Art, describes the basic elements of artistic composition amid a wealth of visual examples and interviews with artists, resulting in a work that a Publishers Weekly contributor dubbed "an ingeniously choreographed duet of text and image" that aids young people in understanding the role of contemporary art and the significance of their response to it. A companion volume, The Sculptor's Eye: Looking at Contemporary American Art, contains a wealth of material "woven together with a clear and perceptive text," according to Horn Book contributor Lolly Robinson. In American Eye: Eleven Artists of the Twentieth Century Greenberg and Jordan present biographies of such major artists as Thomas Hart Benton, Stuart Davis, Jackson Pollock, and Georgia O'Keeffe, and describe the significance of several modern masterworks. Calling their examination one of "clarity and insight," Horn Book contributor Robinson added that the book's focus "is placed on understanding the artist as a person in order to begin to understand each artist's frame of reference for his or her work."

Individual artists Vincent Van Gogh, Chuck Close, and Frank O. Gehry also benefit as the subjects of highly praised biographies by Greenberg and Jordan. In Chuck Close, Up Close the life and work of the artist known in the 1960s for his oversized, highly detailed, and often outrageous neck-up portraits is examined. Published to coincide with a retrospective of Close's work in New York City, Chuck Close, Up Close "is a simply written yet fascinating account of how nearly insurmountable obstacles can often spur artistic growth," according to New York Times Book Review contributor Elizabeth Spires. A contributor to Publishers Weekly deemed the book equally praiseworthy, calling it "an ideal example of an artist biography." Frank O. Gehry: Outside In drew the same positive response from critics. Greenberg and Jordan explain Gehry's approach to space and materials as it developed against the backdrop of his life and culminated in whimsical, original works. "This book is a journey through the creative process," noted Paul Goldberger in a laudatory appraisal for the New York Times Book Review. While noting that Frank O. Gehry would not be suitable for readers under age ten, Goldberger went on to comment that the Goldberg-Jordan collaboration "may be one of the few books for young readers to address honestly not just the payoffs of artistic success but also the risks."

Commenting on the Greenberg-Jordan contributions to children's literature and art, Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books contributor Deborah Stevenson claimed that "no literary gallery can be complete without titles" from the pair. "The provocation of thought, encouragement of curiosity, and exploration of what all kinds of art can mean and do are the real contributions of this team's oeuvre. These books are truly state of the art."

Greenberg and Sandra Jordan probe the life of Jackson Pollock in Action Jackson, while their book Runaway Girl: The Artist Louise Bourgeois was called "a treat to read and view" by Kent Anderson in School Arts. Anderson went on to refer to Runaway Girl as a "a comprehensive yet intimate look at Bourgeois' influences, inspirations, and importance." Horn Book contributor Lolly Robinson commented: "Bourgeois's emotional honesty and the authors' infectious admiration for their subject create an uplifting book with unusual suspense and forward motion." Greenberg and Jordan take on a much-written-about art icon in Andy Warhol: Prince of Pop. Thom Nickels, writing in the Lambda Book Report, called the Warhol biography "an interesting addition to the canon," noting the authors' "ability to hone the artist's life down to bare essentials while weaving these facts into a compelling story."

Greenberg took on sole writing duties for Romare Bearden: Collage of Memories. This book includes many of the artist's collages, along with a biography. Hazel Rochman, writing in Booklist, appreciated the author's ability to write "about technique with clear poetry that takes the viewer up close to the pictures on the page."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Arts and Activities, October, 2005, Jerome J. Hausman, review of Runaway Girl: The Artist Louise Bourgeois, p. 12.

Biography, spring, 2003, Peter Plagens, review of Action Jackson, p. 378.

Booklist, January 15, 1989, Barbara Elleman, review of Just the Two of Us, pp. 870-871; March 15, 1994, Stephanie Zvirin, review of The Sculptor's Eye: Looking at Contemporary American Art, p. 1377; March 15, 1996, review of The American Eye: Eleven Artists of the Twentieth Century, p. 1274; April 1, 1999, Stephanie Zvirin, review of Chuck Close, Up Close, p. 1382; December 15, 2000, Gillian Engberg, review of Frank O. Gehry: Outside In, p. 810; March 15, 2001, Gillian Engberg, interview with Jan Greenberg, p. 1395; August, 2001, Gillian Engberg, review of Vincent Van Gogh: Portrait of an Artist, p. 2117; January 1, 2002, review of Vincent Van Gogh, p. 765; September 15, 2002, Gillian Engberg, review of Action Jackson, p. 232; January 1, 2003, review of Action Jackson, p. 796; April 15, 2003, Gillian Engberg, review of Runaway Girl, p. 1469; September 15, 2003, Hazel Rochman, review of Romare Bearden: Collage of Memories, p. 238; June 1, 2004, Gillian Engberg, review of Andy Warhol: Prince of Pop, p. 1753; January 1, 2005, review of Andy Warhol, p. 772.

Book Report, November-December, 2001, Ruie Chehak, review of Heart to Heart: New Poems Inspired by 20th Century American Art, p. 70.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, September 1, 2000, Deborah Stevenson, "True Blue: Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan."

Horn Book, March, 1994, Lolly Robinson, review of The Sculptor's Eye, p. 223; January-February, 1996, Lolly Robinson, review of The American Eye, p. 91; September, 2000, Lolly Robinson, review of Frank O. Gehry, p. 594; November-December, 2001, Lolly Robinson, review of Vincent Van Gogh, p. 770; November-December, 2002, Lolly Robinson, review of Action Jackson, p. 775; July-August, 2003, Lolly Robinson, review of Runaway Girl, p. 478; November-December, 2003, Barbara Bader, review of Romare Bearden, p. 764; January-February, 2005, Lolly Robinson, review of Andy Warhol, p. 111.

Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2001, review of Vincent Van Gogh, p. 1123; August 15, 2002, review of Action Jackson, p. 1223; August 15, 2003, review of Romare Bearden, p. 1073; October 1, 2004, review of Andy Warhol, p. 960.

Kliatt, July, 2003, Jennifer Banas, review of Vincent Van Gogh, p. 51.

Lambda Book Report, April-May, 2005, Thom Nickels, review of Andy Warhol, p. 30.

New York Times Book Review, May 17, 1998, Elizabeth Spires, review of Chuck Close, Up Close, p. 32; November 19, 2000, Paul Goldberger, "The Master Builder," p. 30.

Publishers Weekly, April 25, 1994, review of The Painter's Eye, p. 81; July 3, 2000, review of Chuck Close, Up Close, p. 73; March 12, 2001, review of Heart to Heart, p. 87; July 22, 2002, review of Action Jackson, p. 178; January 13, 2003, review of Vincent Van Gogh, p. 63; August 25, 2003, review of Romare Bearden, p. 64; October 25, 2004, review of Andy Warhol, p. 49.

School Arts, March, 2002, Ken Marantz, review of Vincent Van Gogh, p. 52; November 2002, Ken Marantz, review of Heart to Heart, p. 56; September, 2003, Kent Anderson, review of Runaway Girl, p. 67.

School Library Journal, September, 2001, Robin L. Gibson, review of Vincent Van Gogh, p. 246; October, 2002, Robin L. Gibson, review of Action Jackson, p. 144; May, 2003, Delia Fritz, review of Runaway Girl, p. 169; September, 2003, Heather E. Miller, review of Romare Bearden, p. 232; October, 2003, reviews of Action Jackson, p. S30, and Runaway Girl, p. S66; April, 2004, Wendy Lukehart, review of Action Jackson, p. 62; November, 2004, Alison Follos, reviews of Chuck Up Close, and Heart to Heart, p. 66, and Daryl Grabarek, review of Andy Warhol, p. 164; April, 2005, review of Andy Warhol, p. S55.

Voice of Youth Advocates, February, 1989, Beth E. Andersen, review of Just the Two of Us, p. 284; October, 1990, Susan Levine, review of The Pig-out Blues, p. 257.