Barasch, Lynne 1939–

Personal

Born March 23, 1939, in New York, NY; daughter of Robert Julius and Elaine Marx; married Kenneth Robert Barasch (an ophthalmologist), June 20, 1958; children: Wendy, Jill (deceased), Nina (deceased), Cassie, Dinah. Education: Attended Rhode Island School of Design, 1957-58; Parsons School of Design, B.A., 1976. Politics: Democrat. Religion: Jewish. Hobbies and other interests: Theater, ballet, art.

Addresses

Home—New York, NY. Agent—Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency, Inc., 216 E. 75th St., New York, NY 10021. E-mail—llbarasch@aol.com.

Career

Children's author and illustrator.

Member

Authors Guild, Authors League.

Awards, Honors

Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children designation, National Science Teachers Association/Children's Book Council (CBC), 1993, for A Winter Walk; Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award, for The Reluctant Flower Girl; Notable Children's Book selection, Smithsonian magazine, 2000, Notable Children's Book selection, American Library Association, 2001, and Pick of the Lists selection, American Booksellers Association, Best Children's Books of the Year selection, Bank Street College of Education, and Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award, all for Radio Rescue; Paterson Prize for Books for Young People, and Notable Social Studies Trade Book, National Council for the Social Studies/CBC, both 2005, both for Knockin' on Wood; Parents' Choice Award, 2005, for Ask Albert Einstein.

Writings

SELF-ILLUSTRATED PICTURE BOOKS

Rodney's Inside Story, Orchard Books (New York, NY), 1992.

A Winter Walk, Ticknor & Fields (New York, NY), 1993.

Old Friends, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (New York, NY), 1998.

Radio Rescue, Frances Foster Books (New York, NY), 2000.

The Reluctant Flower Girl, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2001.

Knockin' on Wood: Starring Peg Leg Bates, Lee & Low Books (New York, NY), 2004.

A Country Schoolhouse, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (New York, NY), 2004.

Ask Albert Einstein, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (New York, NY), 2005.

Hiromi's Hands, Lee & Low Books (New York, NY), 2006.

ILLUSTRATOR

Jane Cutler, Commonsense and Fowls, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (New York, NY), 2005.

Mona Kerby, Owney, the Mail Pouch Pooch, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (New York, NY), 2008.

Sidelights

Lynne Barasch is the author of several critically acclaimed works for young readers, including Knockin' on Wood: Starring Peg Leg Bates and Hiromi's Hands. Barasch once told SATA that she found "picture books … a very gratifying means of expression." As she also remarked to Cynsations online interviewer Cynthia Leitich Smith, "As an illustrator, I am always writing with pictures in my head. I don't use paragraphs when a few words will do!"

Barasch developed an interest in the arts early in life, as she told Smith. "All my life I have painted and done drawings," she recalled. "I went to art classes as a child and to the Art Students League on Saturdays when I was in high school." After high school, Barasch attended the Rhode Island School of Design and later graduated from the Parsons School of Design. It was not until her daughter, Cassie, was ten years old, however, that she began writing and illustrating in earnest. She published her debut work, Rodney's Inside Story, in 1992.

Barasch followed that effort with A Winter's Walk, a quiet tale about a day in winter when Sophie and her mother go for a stroll. Describing the outdoors in a simple text, Barasch accompanied the story with watercolor illustrations, eliciting praise from a Kirkus Reviews contributor for putting together a "quiet book with special appeal for the observant child."

In another work, Old Friends, Barasch explores the unusual topic, for picture books, of reincarnation. Henrietta is an older woman who has outlived her acquaintances, and very much misses her childhood friend, Anna. One day, she meets a little dog that seems to communicate with her, reminding her of Anna. Henrietta realizes a connection with the dog and they remain friends until the woman dies. Reviewing this work for School Library Journal, Jody McCoy lauded Barasch's "soft focus" illustrations and "thoughtful text."

In 2001 Barasch wrote and illustrated The Reluctant Flower Girl, a book about young April and the wedding of her older sister, Annabel. Fearing she is losing her best friend, April attempts to thwart the upcoming nuptials, telling her sister's fiancé that Annabel both snores and wets the bed. However, discovering that her brother-in-law has a fine sense of humor and play, April realizes that she is not losing a sister, but instead gaining a brother. Writing in Publishers Weekly, a critic remarked that "Barasch gets to the heart of a girl's jumble of feelings regarding her sister's wedding with both humor and honesty." "In simple, perfectly paced text and appealing pen-and-watercolor drawings," found Booklist reviewer Gillian Engberg, the author and illustrator "nicely captures a young girl's sense of loss, leavening it with plenty of humor and lighthearted detail."

In Knockin' on Wood, Barasch chronicles the life of Clayton "Peg Leg" Bates, a remarkable one-legged tap dancer. Bates, a sharecropper's son who lost his left leg in a machine accident at the age of twelve, learned to walk and dance with the aid of a wooden leg. After performing for years on the vaudeville circuit, he rose to fame, appearing on television's Ed Sullivan Show and before the king and queen of England. On the Lee & Low Books Web site, Barasch stated: "If I had to single out one thing that this story says to me it would be: The pursuit of an art has the power to carry you through life no matter what obstacles may present themselves. There is no finer endeavor." Knockin' on Wood, which garnered the Paterson Prize for Books for Young People, was described as "a very neat story, told briefly but effectively," by a contributor to Kirkus Reviews, and Marianne Saccardi remarked in School Library Journal that "Barasch's watercolor-and-ink cartoon paintings capture the poverty of the dancer's early life, the adulation of his falls, and his joyous love of dancing."

A grandfather recounts a piece of his childhood in A Country Schoolhouse, "an undeniably engaging look back," according to Booklist critic GraceAnne A. DeCandido. While reminiscing with his grandson, the senior citizen describes the three-room country schoolhouse he attended during the 1940s, fondly recalling the wood-burning stove that kept students warm, his love of spelling and geography bees, and even the lack of indoor plumbing. A critic in Kirkus Reviews described Barasch's self-illustrated tale as "a child-friendly history lesson made relevant with details," and School Library Journal contributor Catherine Threadgill remarked that the book's "watercolor-and-ink illustrations create a solid sense of time and place."

Based on a 1952 New York Times article, Ask Albert Einstein focuses on the efforts of seven-year-old April to help her older sister, Annabel, a high-schooler who is struggling with math. After she fails in her own efforts to solve one particularly vexing problem, April pens a letter to the celebrated physicist, requesting his assistance. "There's a lot to like here: sprightly pen-and-ink art, a clever presentation of Einstein's famous sayings, easily understood biographical material," Ilene Cooper commented in Booklist. Holly Sneeringer, reviewing the work for School Library Journal, wrote that Barasch's "nostalgic cartoon illustrations and numerous quotes from the international figure add charm to this enchanting tale."

In Hiromi's Hands, an "upbeat, contemporary immigration story," according to Booklist critic Hazel Rochman, Barasch offers a biography of Hiromi Suzuki, one of

New York City's first female sushi chefs. "I first met Hiromi as an adorable, shy, five-year-old kindergartener in my daughter Dinah's class," the author remarked on the Lee & Low Books Web site, adding, "Their teacher predicted that they would be lifelong friends, and her prediction came true!" The work follows not only the life of Hiromi but also that of her father, Akira Suzuki, a restaurateur who taught his daughter the culinary arts. "The muted ink-and-watercolor illustrations are spare but expressive," observed Horn Book contributor Jennifer M. Brabander. A critic in Kirkus Reviews described Hiromi's Hands as "a fascinating family story."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, May 1, 2001, Gillian Engberg, review of The Reluctant Flower Girl, p. 1688; June 1, 2004, Ilene Cooper, review of Knockin' on Wood: Starring Peg Leg Bates, p. 1760; September 1, 2004, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of A Country Schoolhouse, p. 129; September 1, 2005, Ilene Cooper, review of Ask Albert Einstein, p. 126; March 15, 2007, Hazel Rochman, review of Hiromi's Hands, p. 50.

Children's Book Review Service, November, 1993, review of A Winter's Walk, p. 25.

Five Owls, February, 1995, review of A Winter's Walk, p. 55.

Horn Book, May-June, 2007, Jennifer M. Brabander, review of Hiromi's Hands, p. 299.

Kirkus Reviews, July 15, 1993, review of A Winter's Walk, p. 930; January 15, 1998, review of Old Friends, p. 109.

Miami Herald, August 20, 2004, Sue Corbett, "Author Barasch Passes Things on from Past to Future."

Publishers Weekly, April 30, 2001, review of The Reluctant Flower Girl, p. 76; May 1, 2004, review of Knockin' on Wood, p. 438; July 15, 2004, review of A Country Schoolhouse, p. 681; March 1, 2005, review of Common Sense and Fowls, p. 285; October 1, 2005, review of Ask Albert Einstein, p. 1076; February 15, 2007, review of Hiromi's Hands.

School Library Journal, September, 1993, Starr LaTronica, review of A Winter's Walk, p. 204; April, 1998, Jody McCoy, review of Old Friends, p. 91; June, 2004, Marianne Saccardi, review of Knockin' on Wood, p. 122; August, 2004, Catherine Threadgill, review of A Country Schoolhouse, p. 82; March, 2005, Deanna Romriell, review of Common Sense and Fowls, p. 170; January, 2006, Holly T. Sneeringer, review of Ask Albert Einstein, p. 116; May, 2007, Wendy Lukehart, review of Hiromi's Hands, p. 113.

ONLINE

Cynsations Web site,http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/ (March 28, 2007), Cynthia Leitich Smith, interview with Barasch.

Lee & Low Books Web site,http://www.leeandlow.com/ (December 20, 2007), "Booktalk with Lynne Barasch."

Lynne Barasch Home Page,http://www.lynnebarasch.com (December 20, 2007).