Zora!

August 6, 2012
This accessible and entertaining biography of the gifted, energetic, and ambitious African-American author of Their Eyes Were Watching God engages the dreams, challenges, and accomplishments of Hurston, who garnered some recognition during her lifetime, but achieved fame only after her death. Beginning with a striking scene of the 59-year-old Hurston, already a well-known author, working as a white family’s domestic helper because she needed a paycheck, the Fradins (Stolen into Slavery) establish the complexities of Zora’s inner and external worlds, before offering highlights of her life in chronological order. These include her idyllic childhood in the all-black town of Eatonville, Fla.—where she read books, played baseball, and listened to “lying sessions” (storytelling) at the general store—as well as her decade spent as a working college student, her tumultuous friendship with Langston Hughes,
literary ventures, anthropological research, three short-lived marriages, and late-life poverty. Photographs of family, friends, and patrons (including one of Zora and her car, “Sassy Susie”) add resonance, as does her own voice, in quotations from letters and her autobiography. Zora’s
creative, hopeful, and complicated personality shines through this compelling profile. Ages 9–12.

June 1, 2012
Zora Neale Hurston and her times come alive in this introduction for young readers. Living in the all-black town of Eatonville, Fla., Zora Neale Hurston never had to face the racism of her times. She grew up proud and confident, believing "the moon followed her wherever she went." Early on, she cultivated the dream of becoming a famous writer, and though she faced many obstacles along the way, she succeeded with Their Eyes Were Watching God, which has sold over five million copies and is now a fixture of high school and college curricula. The volume is nicely designed, and the many photographs (captions not seen) make it feel like a Hurston scrapbook, though there are too many pages of dense text unbroken by images. Somehow, though, Hurston's odyssey--through the Harlem Renaissance and the Prohibition era, as well as through the South collecting stories from former slaves, lumber workers near the Everglades and voodoo practitioners in New Orleans--comes off as dry and not especially interesting. Audience is an issue, too, since the volume is aimed at young readers who won't have heard of Hurston and won't find books by her for their age group. A work aimed at an older teen audience might have better hit the mark. An adequate introduction to a remarkable 20th-century author. (two folktales, timeline, source notes, bibliography, index) (Biography. 9-12)

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September 1, 2012

Gr 5-8-This biography begins with Hurston as a middle-aged woman. Working as a maid to make ends meet, she is "found out" and spins tales about both her age and the reasons behind her domestic servitude. This well-chosen episode succinctly captures the legendary author's colorful spirit-her mischievous penchant for lying about her age and ever cash-poor status, but undying desire to write and publish. These themes are threaded throughout the narrative, from her early childhood in all-black Eatonville, FL, through her tumultuous personal and professional life, to her death in near obscurity. The writing is straightforward and engaging, and the numerous archival photographs and reproductions add interest and clarification. While many of Hurston's titles have been reissued in recent years, there have been few biographies for children. The Fradins' accessible style and incorporation of recent scholarship will prove a major selling point where the author is studied.-Jill Heritage Maza, Montclair Kimberley Academy, Montclair, NJ

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2012
Grades 4-6 This accessible biography introduces Zora Neale Hurston's remarkable life and work to a new generation of readers. As a child in Eatonville, Florida, self-confident Hurston believed the moon followed her. Organized chronologically, the Fradins' book follows Hurston's bumpy yet fascinating career as she moves from Florida to NYC and into the exciting world of the Harlem Renaissance. Hurston wandered for the majority of her life, including a long stint traveling through the South collecting lies (folktales). In spite of her struggles with poverty, she was determined to become a successful writerbut she never saw fortune in her lifetime. When she died, in 1960, her books were out of print; Hurston's works were rediscovered in the late 1970s, and Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) is now considered a seminal work of African American literature. Clearly written text and period photos paint a picture of a larger-than-life, spirited woman and the times in which she lived. Two of Hurston's collected lies, along with a time line, source notes, bibliography, and index, round out this portrait of an American luminary.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2013
Documenting the life of Zora Neale Hurston can present a challenge because she often lied about herself in print, beginning with the year of her birth. The Fradins make discrepancies part of the story, using Hurston's autobiographical tall tales to give readers a strong sense of her. Illustrated with carefully selected photographs, this biography is pleasurable as well as informative. Timeline. Bib., ind.

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

November 1, 2012
Documenting the life of Zora Neale Hurston can present a challenge to any biographer because she so often lied about herself in print, beginning with the year of her birth, which family records show to be 1891: At various times Zora claimed to have been born in 1895, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, or 1908. The most outrageous birthdate she made up for herself was 1910. Where other biographies for young readers might explain such discrepancies in notes or an afterword, the Fradins make them part of the story, using Hurston's autobiographical tall tales to give readers a strong sense of the woman who was once described by Harlem Renaissance author and photographer Carl Van Vechten as picturesque, witty, electric, indiscreet, and unreliable. Each of these characteristics comes through in this engaging account of Hurston's life. Best known as an anthropologist, folklorist, novelist, and playwright, she still ended up (at age sixty) working as a maid in a posh Miami suburb for thirty dollars a week. When this fact was discovered and reported by the Saturday Evening Post, Hurston tried to spare herself from humiliation by claiming she was doing research. (And, of course, she gave her age as forty-two.) The Fradins open the book with this intriguing vignette, then go back to Zora's beginnings to show us how she got there. Illustrated with dozens of carefully selected photographs, this well-documented biography is pleasurable reading as well as informative. kathleen t. horning

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)