Doris Buchanan Smith
Encyclopedia
Doris Buchanan Smith was an award-winning author of children’s books
distinguished for their realism
.
(Penguin, Sixth Edition, 2006) Giant Treasury of Great Read-Aloud Books, Jim Trelease
praised Smith's groundbreaking first novel; "The sensitivity with which the attendant sorrow and guilt are treated makes this an outstanding book. It blazed the way for the many other grief books that quickly followed, but few have approached the place of honor this one holds."
Published in 1973, with illustrations by Charles Robinson, the book has never been out of print. Cynthia Westway wrote in The Atlanta Journal
, 1973, "Smith deals honestly and emphatically with the range of emotions... the story is not, however an elegy; but a celebration of the continuity of the life-death cycle.” David Rees
wrote, in the Times Literary Supplement
, 1975, “It will be difficult to find a children’s book this autumn by a new author as good as Doris Buchanan Smith’s A Taste of Blackberries
. . . Smith’s success lies in knowing how to handle the theme with exactly the right balance of sensitivity, humour and open emotion.”
An ALA Notable Children's Book, A Taste of Blackberries
was a Newbery Medal
finalist, and won the Josette Frank Award
, the Georgia Children’s Book Award, and the Children's Best Book Prize in Holland (Zilveren Griffel). It has been translated into Afrikaans, Dutch, Danish, French, Spanish and Japanese. In her review of the Spanish language edition the the School Library Journal
(2002), Ann Welton wrote "it is rightfully viewed, along with Katherine Paterson
's Bridge to Terabithia
, 1977, as one of the seminal children's books on the subject of death."
The First Hard Times, 1983, Return to Bitter Creek, 1986, and The Pennywhistle Tree, 1991 were named ALA Notable Children's Books
by the American Library Association
. Return to Bitter Creek also won the Parents' Choice Award
, and was a School Library Journal
& Publishers Weekly
Best Book of the Year. Last Was Lloyd, 1981, was named a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. Smith's last published work was Remember the Red Shouldered Hawk, 1994.
to parents Charles A., and Flora R. Buchanan. At two, she began memorizing nursery rhyme
s that had been read to her by her mother, and then inventing stories of her own. At nine, her family moved from the nation’s Capital to Atlanta, Georgia
. Noticing her flare for story telling, a sixth grade teacher, Miss Pruitt, to whom A Taste of Blackberries
is dedicated, asked Doris if she planned on being a writer one day. The suggestion resonated, and a "closet" writer was born. Her parent’s divorced the next year, leaving Doris and her brothers, Bob and Jim, to be reared by their mother. While attending South Georgia College, in Douglas, Georgia
, she met R. Carroll Smith. Neither of them completed their courses. Instead they married on December 18, 1954, and started a family.
By the mid-1960s the Smiths had settled in Brunswick, Georgia
, and, in addition to their own children, had begun to care for foster children. They raised four of their own children, and cared for dozens of foster children
, one from age 12 to adulthood. After her youngest child entered public school, Smith began to focus on her writing. Lacking in discipline at first, Smith began to make time in the day when she could be alone to write. She attended workshops and writers groups as well, which also helped her to learn the craft. Her first completed novel was never published. Her second, A Taste of Blackberries
, has become a classic. Before it was published, no other modern children's book had wrestled with its difficult subject--the death of a child's playmate.
In 1977, Smiths marriage ended in divorce. While at a writer’s convention in Hawaii
, the author met Dr. William J. "Bill" Curtis, an Associate Professor of Education at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
. They reunited some time later and were married from 1988 until Curtis’ death in 1997 from ALS
(Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gerhig's disease). Smith, who had previously been diagnosed with diabetes and heart disease
, succumbed to cancer
in 2002.
Of Smith's 17 books, only A Taste of Blackberries
remains in print. Former Executive Editor of Viking Penguin, Deborah Brodie, wrote in Publishers Weekly
, "Near the end of the book, when Jamie's mother accepts the basket of blackberries his friend has picked, she says, 'I'll bake a pie. And you be sure to come slam the door for me now and then.' The slam of that door reverberates still."
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
distinguished for their realism
Literary realism
Literary realism most often refers to the trend, beginning with certain works of nineteenth-century French literature and extending to late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century authors in various countries, towards depictions of contemporary life and society "as they were." In the spirit of...
.
Works
In The Read-Aloud HandbookJim Trelease
Jim Trelease , also known as James Joseph Trelease, is an educator and author who stresses reading aloud to children as a way to instill in them the love of literature.-Life:...
(Penguin, Sixth Edition, 2006) Giant Treasury of Great Read-Aloud Books, Jim Trelease
Jim Trelease
Jim Trelease , also known as James Joseph Trelease, is an educator and author who stresses reading aloud to children as a way to instill in them the love of literature.-Life:...
praised Smith's groundbreaking first novel; "The sensitivity with which the attendant sorrow and guilt are treated makes this an outstanding book. It blazed the way for the many other grief books that quickly followed, but few have approached the place of honor this one holds."
Published in 1973, with illustrations by Charles Robinson, the book has never been out of print. Cynthia Westway wrote in The Atlanta Journal
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is the only major daily newspaper in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, and its suburbs. The AJC, as it is called, is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is the result of the merger between The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta...
, 1973, "Smith deals honestly and emphatically with the range of emotions... the story is not, however an elegy; but a celebration of the continuity of the life-death cycle.” David Rees
David Rees (author)
David Bartlett Rees was a British author, lecturer and reviewer. Much of his work was written for children and young adults. His books included The Exeter Blitz, which won the Carnegie Medal for 1978.-Biography:...
wrote, in the Times Literary Supplement
The Times Literary Supplement
The Times Literary Supplement is a weekly literary review published in London by News International, a subsidiary of News Corporation.-History:...
, 1975, “It will be difficult to find a children’s book this autumn by a new author as good as Doris Buchanan Smith’s A Taste of Blackberries
A Taste of Blackberries
A Taste of Blackberries is an award-winning children's book by Doris Buchanan Smith about a boy whose best friend dies.-Background:In the early 1970's editors believed that because of its theme, involving the death of a child, the story was more suitable for adults than for children, and A Taste of...
. . . Smith’s success lies in knowing how to handle the theme with exactly the right balance of sensitivity, humour and open emotion.”
An ALA Notable Children's Book, A Taste of Blackberries
A Taste of Blackberries
A Taste of Blackberries is an award-winning children's book by Doris Buchanan Smith about a boy whose best friend dies.-Background:In the early 1970's editors believed that because of its theme, involving the death of a child, the story was more suitable for adults than for children, and A Taste of...
was a Newbery Medal
Newbery Medal
The John Newbery Medal is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association . The award is given to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The award has been given since 1922. ...
finalist, and won the Josette Frank Award
Josette Frank Award
The Josette Frank Award is an annual children's literary award for fiction that honors a book or books of "outstanding literary merit in which children or young people deal in a positive and realistic way with difficulties in their world and grow emotionally and morally".Known as the Children's...
, the Georgia Children’s Book Award, and the Children's Best Book Prize in Holland (Zilveren Griffel). It has been translated into Afrikaans, Dutch, Danish, French, Spanish and Japanese. In her review of the Spanish language edition the the School Library Journal
School Library Journal
The School Library Journal is a monthly magazine with articles and reviews for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with a focus on technology and multimedia. Reviews are included for preschool to 4th grade,...
(2002), Ann Welton wrote "it is rightfully viewed, along with Katherine Paterson
Katherine Paterson
Katherine Paterson is an American author of children's novels. She wrote Bridge to Terabithia and has received several of the major international awards for children's literature.- Early life:...
's Bridge to Terabithia
Bridge to Terabithia
Bridge to Terabithia is a work of children's literature about two lonely children who create a magical forest kingdom. It was written by Katherine Paterson and was published in 1977 by HarperCollins. In 1978, it won the Newbery Medal...
, 1977, as one of the seminal children's books on the subject of death."
The First Hard Times, 1983, Return to Bitter Creek, 1986, and The Pennywhistle Tree, 1991 were named ALA Notable Children's Books
American Library Association
The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
by the American Library Association
American Library Association
The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
. Return to Bitter Creek also won the Parents' Choice Award
Parents' Choice Award
The Parents' Choice Award is an award presented by the non-profit Parents' Choice Foundation to recognize "the very best products for children of different ages and backgrounds, and of varied skill and interest levels." It is considered a "prestigious" award among children's products, and has been...
, and was a School Library Journal
School Library Journal
The School Library Journal is a monthly magazine with articles and reviews for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with a focus on technology and multimedia. Reviews are included for preschool to 4th grade,...
& Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
Best Book of the Year. Last Was Lloyd, 1981, was named a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. Smith's last published work was Remember the Red Shouldered Hawk, 1994.
Biography
Doris Jean Buchanan was born in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
to parents Charles A., and Flora R. Buchanan. At two, she began memorizing nursery rhyme
Nursery rhyme
The term nursery rhyme is used for "traditional" poems for young children in Britain and many other countries, but usage only dates from the 19th century and in North America the older ‘Mother Goose Rhymes’ is still often used.-Lullabies:...
s that had been read to her by her mother, and then inventing stories of her own. At nine, her family moved from the nation’s Capital to Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
. Noticing her flare for story telling, a sixth grade teacher, Miss Pruitt, to whom A Taste of Blackberries
A Taste of Blackberries
A Taste of Blackberries is an award-winning children's book by Doris Buchanan Smith about a boy whose best friend dies.-Background:In the early 1970's editors believed that because of its theme, involving the death of a child, the story was more suitable for adults than for children, and A Taste of...
is dedicated, asked Doris if she planned on being a writer one day. The suggestion resonated, and a "closet" writer was born. Her parent’s divorced the next year, leaving Doris and her brothers, Bob and Jim, to be reared by their mother. While attending South Georgia College, in Douglas, Georgia
Douglas, Georgia
Douglas is a city in Coffee County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 11,589. Douglas is the county seat of Coffee County and the core city of the Douglas, Georgia Micropolitan Statistical Area which has a population of 48,708 as of the 2008 census...
, she met R. Carroll Smith. Neither of them completed their courses. Instead they married on December 18, 1954, and started a family.
By the mid-1960s the Smiths had settled in Brunswick, Georgia
Brunswick, Georgia
Brunswick is the major urban and economic center in southeastern Georgia in the United States. The municipality is located on a harbor near the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 30 miles north of Florida and 70 miles south of South Carolina. Brunswick is bordered on the east by the Atlantic...
, and, in addition to their own children, had begun to care for foster children. They raised four of their own children, and cared for dozens of foster children
Foster care
Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in the private home of a state certified caregiver referred to as a "foster parent"....
, one from age 12 to adulthood. After her youngest child entered public school, Smith began to focus on her writing. Lacking in discipline at first, Smith began to make time in the day when she could be alone to write. She attended workshops and writers groups as well, which also helped her to learn the craft. Her first completed novel was never published. Her second, A Taste of Blackberries
A Taste of Blackberries
A Taste of Blackberries is an award-winning children's book by Doris Buchanan Smith about a boy whose best friend dies.-Background:In the early 1970's editors believed that because of its theme, involving the death of a child, the story was more suitable for adults than for children, and A Taste of...
, has become a classic. Before it was published, no other modern children's book had wrestled with its difficult subject--the death of a child's playmate.
In 1977, Smiths marriage ended in divorce. While at a writer’s convention in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, the author met Dr. William J. "Bill" Curtis, an Associate Professor of Education at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
The University of Colorado Colorado Springs is a campus of the University of Colorado system, the state university system of Colorado....
. They reunited some time later and were married from 1988 until Curtis’ death in 1997 from ALS
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , also referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a form of motor neuron disease caused by the degeneration of upper and lower neurons, located in the ventral horn of the spinal cord and the cortical neurons that provide their efferent input...
(Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gerhig's disease). Smith, who had previously been diagnosed with diabetes and heart disease
Heart disease
Heart disease, cardiac disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety of diseases affecting the heart. , it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, accounting for 25.4% of the total deaths in the United States.-Types:-Coronary heart disease:Coronary...
, succumbed to cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
in 2002.
Of Smith's 17 books, only A Taste of Blackberries
A Taste of Blackberries
A Taste of Blackberries is an award-winning children's book by Doris Buchanan Smith about a boy whose best friend dies.-Background:In the early 1970's editors believed that because of its theme, involving the death of a child, the story was more suitable for adults than for children, and A Taste of...
remains in print. Former Executive Editor of Viking Penguin, Deborah Brodie, wrote in Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
, "Near the end of the book, when Jamie's mother accepts the basket of blackberries his friend has picked, she says, 'I'll bake a pie. And you be sure to come slam the door for me now and then.' The slam of that door reverberates still."
External links
- Doris Buchanan Smith Papers Hargrett Rare Book & Manuscript Library University of Georgia
- Doris Buchanan Smith Papers University of Minnesota
- Georgia Center for the Book Honors Doris Buchanan Smith
- HarperCollins' Children's Books, A Taste of Blackberries
- Josette Frank Award, Doris Buchanan Smith
- Scholastic Inc. A Taste of Blackberries
- New York Times Book Review March 4, 1990 of "Voyages"
- Zilveren Griffel - Dutch Award
- Zilveren Griffel Library Thing