Jean Craighead George
In 1960, Jean Craighead George's novel My Side of the Mountain received a Newbery Honor, marking an early point of recognition in what would become a long career devoted to writing for young readers. That distinction placed her work before a wider audience at a relatively early stage of her professional life.
George was born on July 2, 1919, in Washington, D.C. She attended Jackson-Reed High School and later Pennsylvania State University, where she completed her education. Working as a writer, children's author, young adult author, and novelist, she produced her books in English and directed her fiction primarily toward younger audiences. Over the course of her career she wrote more than one hundred books, a volume of output that spanned several decades.
Among her notable works are My Side of the Mountain and Julie of the Wolves. Beyond the Newbery Honor she received in 1960 for My Side of the Mountain, George also received the Newbery Medal, the Regina Medal, and the Zilveren Griffel. These honors, drawn from more than one literary tradition, reflect the range of attention her fiction attracted during her lifetime.
George died on May 15, 2012, at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla. She had by that point produced more than one hundred books across her career as a novelist and children's writer. The Newbery Medal and Newbery Honor she received over the course of her career stand as concrete markers of her place within the field of literature written for young readers.
Quotes by Jean Craighead George
Let’s face it, Thoreau; you can’t live in America today and be quietly different. If you are going to be different, you are going to stand out, and people are going to hear about you; and in your case, if they hear about you, they will remove you to the city or move to you and you won’t be different anymore.
It seemed marvelous to see life pump through that strange little body of feathers, wordless noises, milk eyes – much as life pumped through me.
I still can’t believe that animals don’t understand why delicious food is in such a ridiculous spot.
Scrub mussels in spring water. Dump them into boiling water with salt. Boil five minutes. Remove and cool in the juice. Take out meat. Eat by dipping in acorn paste flavored with a smudge of garlic, and green apples.
There is an old Indian legend that says the Earth rests on the back of the quiet turtle, who carries all our troubles and woes.
Maybe the Europeans once thought the earth was flat, but the Eskimos always knew it was round. One only needed to look at the earth’s relatives, the sun and the moon, to know that.
The climate warmed. Wild grasses, flowers and trees took root in the land behind the huge rock. In time, their growing and dying made deep rich loam on which a magnificent forest grew. Into the forest came bear, deer, brightly colored birds, and the Pawtuxets, a tribe of the Wampanoag, The People of the Dawn.