Virginia euwer wolff author biography search

This page is about the American children's author. For the British modernist author, see Virginia Woolf. For the British rock band, see Virginia Wolf.

Virginia Euwer Wolff (born August 25, 1937) is an American author of children's literature. Her award-winning series Make Lemonade features a 14-year-old girl named LaVaughn, who babysits for the children of a 17-year-old single mother. There are three books. The second, True Believer, won the 2001 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. The second and third, This Full House (2009), garnered Kirkus Reviews starred reviews. She was the recipient of the 2011 NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature, honoring her entire body of work.

Biography

Virginia Euwer Wolff was born in Portland, Oregon in 1937. She grew up in a log house with no electricity, on an apple and pear orchard. In 1945, she began violin lessons, which fomented her love of music. She attended the girls' school St. Helen's Hall (now Oregon Episcopal School) and Smith College. She married Arthur Richard Wolff in 1959. They divorced in 1976.

In 2003, St. Helen's Hall honored Wolff with a Distinguished Alumna Award. She has lived in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C., but now reads, writes, and plays chamber music in Oregon.

She is currently writing an untitled fiction book, covering themes such as war, travel and peace. The characters are written to be brave, foolish and goofy. They also "Do not know what a Kardashian is".

Books

• This Full House First ed. New York: HarperCollins Children's Books 2009. ISBN: 978-0-06-158304-9
  — concluding the Lemonade trilogy
  • Kirkus Review (starred) 02/01/2009
• True Believer First ed. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2001. ISBN: 0-689-85288-6
  — sequel to Make Lemonade
• Bat 6 Henry Holt and Co., 1998 ISBN: 0-03-066279-6
  • Kirkus Review 05/01/1998
  • Oregon Reads 2009 Selection
• Make Lemonade. First ed., Henry Holt and Co

Virginia Euwer Wolff, a celebrated author of young adult literature, grew up in a large, hand-built log house in the shadow of Mount Hood. Her father, Eugene Courtney Euwer, had given up his Pennsylvania law practice in 1911 to grow fruit in Oregon's Hood River Valley. Her uncle, poet and painter Anthony Euwer, moved to Oregon that same year. He wrote and illustrated for the Oregon Journal as well as for Harpers, Colliers, and other national publications.

Wolff was born in Portland on August 25, 1937. Her father died when she was five, and her mother, Florence, worked the farm while raising Wolff and her older brother in a home full of music, books, and paintings. “From our backyard we had a towering view of Mt. Hood . . . with snow on it all year round,” Wolff writes. "From our front lawn on a clear day we could see three more of the Cascades.”

Wolff attended several high schools in Oregon, including Wy'East and St. Helen's Hall (now Oregon Episcopal School). She graduated from Smith College, married, and had two children. The family moved twelve times, living in Philadelphia, New York, Washington, D.C., Ohio, and Connecticut. Divorced in 1976, Wolff returned to Oregon, where she taught high school and wrote a novel for adults titled Rated PG before turning her hand to young adult literature. Her six books for young readers include Probably Still Nick Swansen (1988), The Mozart Season (1991), Make Lemonade (1993), Bat 6 (1998), True Believer (2001), and This Full House (2009).

Wolff is "a master stylist," writes Roger Sutton, editor-in-chief of The Horn Book Magazine. Her groundbreaking novels are notable for "their emotional intensity, for their innovation, and for characters that 'grab hold and won't let go.'" The difficulties of life are relentless for Wolff's protagonists, who are often outsiders, and her work tunes in to the "fragile, trembling balance" of "Insider and Outsider language."

An accomplished violinist, Wolff has been par

Virginia Euwer Wolff Biography

Virginia Euwer Wolff was born on August 25, 1937 in Portland, Oregon. Her family lived on an apple and pear orchard near Mount Hood. She graduated from Smith College. She raised a son and daughter before going back to teaching high school English.

She was almost fifty years old when she started writing children books. Virginia thought she might have one or two good books in her before the end but that was proven wrong. Today, she is no longer teaching, but writes full-time.

Wolff has received many awards for her works, which include the Golden Kite Award for Fiction for her book Make Lemonade, the ALA Notable Book for Children for The Mozart Season and many, many others.

An accomplished violinist, she is a member of the Chamber Music Society of Oregon. She also enjoys hiking, swimming, and gardening. She lives in Oregon City, Oregon.

Books by this author

Virginia Euwer Wolff's website

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Books by this Author

Books by Virginia Euwer Wolff at BookBrowse

American children's book author

This article is about the American children's author. For the British modernist author, see Virginia Woolf. For the British rock band, see Virginia Wolf.

Virginia Euwer Wolff (born August 25, 1937) is an American author of children's literature. Her award-winning series Make Lemonade features a 14-year-old girl named LaVaughn, who babysits for the children of a 17-year-old single mother. There are three books. The second, True Believer, won the 2001 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. The second and third, This Full House (2009), garnered Kirkus Reviews starred reviews. She was the recipient of the 2011 NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature, honoring her entire body of work.

Biography

Virginia Euwer Wolff was born in Portland, Oregon in 1937. She grew up in a log house with no electricity, on an apple and pear orchard. In 1945, she began violin lessons, which fomented her love of music. She attended the girls' school St. Helen's Hall (now Oregon Episcopal School) and Smith College. She married Arthur Richard Wolff in 1959. They divorced in 1976.

In 2003, St. Helen's Hall honored Wolff with a Distinguished Alumna Award. She has lived in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C., but now reads, writes, and plays chamber music in Oregon.

She is currently writing an untitled fiction book, covering themes such as war, travel and peace. The characters are written to be brave, foolish and goofy. They also "Do not know what a Kardashian is".

Books

• • Award: Booklist Top of the List winner
• The Mozart Season. First ed. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1991.
• Probably Still Nick Swansen. First ed. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1988.
• Rated PG New York: St. Martin's Press, 1981.

See also

Notes