Littlesugar, Amy 1953-

Personal

Born March 8, 1953, in Bermuda; daughter of Kevin (in sales) and Rosalind (a homemaker) Alme; married David Zuccarini (an artist), 1974; children: Christie, Ethan, Will. Education: University of Maryland, B.A. Politics: Democrat.

Addresses

Home—Columbia, MD. Agent—Pesha Rubinstein Literary Agency, Inc., 1392 Rugby Rd., Teaneck, NY 01666.

Career

Author, 1990—. Howard Community College, Columbia, MD, writing instructor.

Member

Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

Writings

The Spinner's Daughter, illustrated by Robert Quackenbush, Pippin Press (New York, NY), 1994.

Josiah True and the Art Maker, illustrated by Barbara Garrison, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1995.

Marie in Fourth Position: The Story of Degas's "The Little Dancer", illustrated by Ian Schoenherr, Philomel (New York, NY), 1996.

Jonkonnu: A Story from the Sketchbook of Winslow Homer, illustrated by Ian Schoenherr, Penguin (New York, NY), 1997.

A Portrait of Spotted Deer's Grandfather, illustrated by Marlowe DeChristopher, Albert Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 1997.

Shake Rag: From the Life of Elvis Presley, illustrated by Floyd Cooper, Philomel (New York, NY), 1998.

Tree of Hope, illustrated by Floyd Cooper, Philomel (New York, NY), 1999.

The Rag Baby, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2000.

Freedom School, Yes!, illustrated by Floyd Cooper, Philomel (New York, NY), 2001.

Lisette's Angel, illustrated by Max Ginsberg, Dial (New York, NY), 2002.

Willy and Max: A Holocaust Story, illustrated by William Low, Philomel (New York, NY), 2006.

Clown Child, illustrated by Kimberly Bulcken Root, Philomel (New York, NY), 2006.

Sidelights

"When I write, the idea for a story usually comes first," Amy Littlesugar once noted of her career as a children's-book author. "But it is the main character in the story who must make you care about that idea." Strong, captivating characters are featured in each of Littlesugar's books, among them a young dancer in Marie in Fourth Position: The Story of Degas's "The Little Dancer"; a student braving racial strife to gain an education in Freedom School, Yes!; two boys whose friendship is torn by war in Willy and Max: A Holocaust Story; a family with dreams of freedom in Tree of Hope; and a girl who learns to appreciate her unusual family in Clown Child.

Marie in Fourth Position is an imaginative and realistic story about the chorus girl who was immortalized by artist Edgar Degas in his sculpture The Little Dancer. In her fictionalized account, Littlesugar depicts a shy chorus girl's transformation as Marie's dancing improves dramatically through her modeling work for Degas. Not much is known about the girl and Littlesugar makes this clear in her footnote at the end of the book. In her School Library Journal review of Marie in Fourth Position Melissa Hudak wrote that the author's "beautifully written story … focuses not only on Degas's work, but also the suffering Marie endured for both the sculptor and her ballet." Another girl whose life draws her into the world of the arts is the focus of Clown Child, which brings to life the rough-and-tumble existence of circus performers through the life of a girl named Olivia and her dreams of a normal life.

In the books Jonkonnu: A Story from the Sketchbook of Winslow Homer and A Portrait of Spotted Dear's Grandfather are also inspired by images from famous

works of art. In Jonkonnu Littlesugar reconstructs an event from the late 1800s, when painter Winslow Homer visited Petersburg, Virginia, to sketch freed slaves as they celebrated Jonkonnu, an old slave holiday. Although Jonkonnu is a fictionalized portrayal of a part of Homer's career, the book has some grounding in historic fact; although the U.S. Civil War had been over for more than a decade, former slaves were still not accepted into the mainstream of Southern life. Shirley Wilton, writing in School Library Journal, described Littlesugar's narrative as evocative of "the heat and lush green growth of Southern summer, and with vocabulary and pronunciation suggestive of soft Southern speech." Elizabeth Bush, reviewing the book for the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, cited Little-sugar's treatment of an incident involving Homer and a staring match with a town bigot as worthy of particular mention.

A Portrait of Spotted Deer's Grandfather draws its inspiration from a journey made in 1836 by American artist George Catlin. Another fictionalized account by Littlesugar, the book details an elderly Native American's realization that an artist's impressions are an essential method of by which to communicate one's culture to future generations. Also including an outline of Catlin's life, the work was recommended by Karen Hunt in Booklist as "useful for introducing Catlin's life or a unit on American Indians."

Littlesugar moves from fine art to popular music in Shake Rag: From the Life of Elvis Presley, a picture-book presentation of the childhood of one of the most popular musicians of the twentieth century. Focusing on Elvis Presley's introduction to music by gospel singers while growing up in the South, Littlesugar also records the influences of both black and white individuals in shaping the man's unique music. Ronald Jobe, writing in School Library Journal that Littlesugar's "storytelling is remarkable," and Barbara Baker commented in Children's Book Review Service, commenting that Shake Rag is "helpful in the study of American racial history." Also focusing on the arts, Tree of Hope explores the rebirth of African-American theatre in Harlem during the Great Depression. A Publishers Weekly review noted that here "Littlesugar unobtrusively uses history to anchor the experiences of a particular fictional family."

In Freedom School, Yes! Littlesugar focuses on the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Inspiration for the story came from "a photograph of three African-American children and their eighteen-year-old white schoolteacher smiling for the camera in the window of a one-room schoolhouse back in the tense and dangerous Civil Rights summer of 1963," the author recalled. "The hand-lettered sign above said FREEDOM SCHOOL, and I soon learned that Freedom Schools were make-shift classrooms built and taught by black and white college students from the North. They mushroomed all across the South, where black children were still denied the opportunity of education." In her story, Littlesugar creates two pivotal characters: eighteen-year-old Annie, a newly trained teacher, and Jolie, a Mississippi-born girl who gains in self-confidence as she comes to love learning. In School Library Journal Barbara Buckley wrote that in Freedom School, Yes! "Littlesugar has created a slice-of-life story with a potent message." The critic described Floyd Cooper's illustrations as a "masterful and lush" addition to a narrative that provides young readers with "a unique and poignant look at a moment in history."

The drama of World War II serves as a backdrop to several books by Littlesugar. In Willy and Max: A Holocaust Story she takes readers to Belgium where two boys become best friends. Max, the son of a Jewish professor of art, meets Willy when he goes with his father to purchase an oil painting the boys dub "The Lady." After the Nazis overrun the boys' home town, Max and his family flee to America and "The Lady" is confiscated by Nazi troops. Years later, a museum curator discovers the rolled-up canvas, and returns the painting to Max's family. Calling Willy and Max a "touching story [that] demonstrates that true friendship transcends

all odds," a Kirkus Reviews writer also commended the large, dark-hued oil paintings by William Low that bring the wartime tale to life.

In Lisette's Angel the focus is on the Allied invasion of occupied Normandy in June of 1944, and Littlesugar portrays these events from a child's perspective. As her family goes hungry and her father loses his job, six-year-old Lisette prays that an angel will come to set things right. One night, when a paratrooper sails to earth near her home, it seems that her wish has come true. Hidden from a German patrol by Lisette and her brother, the paratrooper leaves to rejoin his battalion. He leaves behind a soft, silken parachute, from which Lisette's mother fashions her daughter an angelic dress. Praising Littlesugar's "soaring text," a Kirkus Reviews writer described Lisette's Angel as "a lovely story" that will serve "to bring a bit of WWII history to the youngest of children." In Booklist Hazel Rochman wrote that Littlesugar's "glowing picture book for older children is pure nostalgia," and Louise L. Sherman appraised the story in School Library Journal as a "reassuring tale that balances a child's beliefs and an adult's understandings."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, January 1, 1998, Karen Hunt, review of A Portrait of Spotted Deer's Grandfather, p. 813; December 15, 1999, Hazel Rochman, review of Tree of Hope, p. 790; February 15, 2001, Hazel Rochman, review of Freedom School, Yes!, p. 1155; September 1, 2002, Hazel Rochman, review of Lisette's Angel, p. 125; January 1, 2006, Hazel Rochman, review of Willy and Max: A Holocaust Story, p. 117; July 1, 2006, Gillian Engberg, review of Clown Child, p. 67.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, January, 1998, Elizabeth Bush, review of Jonkonnu: A Story from the Sketchbook of Winslow Homer, p. 165; April, 2006, Hope Morrison, review of Willy and Max, p. 364.

Children's Book Review Service, April, 1998, Annette C. Blank, review of Jonkonnu, p. 102; December, 1998, Barbara Baker, review of Shake Rag, p. 43.

Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 1996, review of Marie in Fourth Position, p. 324; August 15, 1997, review of A Portrait of Spotted Deer's Grandfather, p. 308; December 15, 1997, review of Jonkonnu, p. 836; October 15, 1998, review of Shake Rag, p. 533; October 15, 1999, review of Tree of Hope, p. 1646; May 1, 2002, review of Lisette's Angel, p. 660; February 15, 2006, review of Willy and Max, p. 186; May 15, 2006, review of Clown Child, p. 520.

New York Times Book Review, February 14, 1999, Peter Keepnews, review of Shake Rag, p. 27.

Publishers Weekly, May 31, 1999, review of Marie in Fourth Position, p. 86; November 29, 1999, review of review of Tree of Hope, p. 70; January 8, 2001, review of Freedom School, Yes!, p. 65.

School Library Journal, October, 1996, Melissa Hudak, review of Marie in Fourth Position, p. 101; September, 1997, Pam Grosner, review of A Portrait of Spotted Deer's Grandfather, p. 186; February, 1998, Shirley Wilton, review of Jonkonnu, p. 86; October, 1998, Ronald Jobe, review of Shake Rag, p. 106; November, 1999, Miriam Lang Budin, review of Tree of Hope, p. 123; January, 2001, Barbara Buckley, review of Freedom School, Yes!, p. 104; August, 2002, Louise L. Sherman, review of Lisette's Angel, p. 160; March, 2006, Rita Soltan, review of Willy and Max, p. 196; July, 2006, Shelley B. Sutherland, review of Clown Child, p. 82.