The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy)

From the Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor-winning team behind WHAT TO DO ABOUT ALICE?, a humorous and intimate portrait of the most celebrated writer in America, as told by his thirteen-year-old daughter.

This is a frank biographer and an honest one; she uses no sandpaper on me. - Mark TwainAn NCTE Orbis Pictus Recommended BookInspired. -- The Washington PostFrom the award-winning team behind What to Do About Alice?, comes a humorous and intimate portrait of the most celebrated writer in America, as told by his thirteen-year-old daughter.Susy Clemens thought the world was wrong about her papa. They saw Mark Twain as a humorist joking at everything. But he was so much more, and Susy was determined to set the record straight. In a journal she kept under her pillow, Susy documented her world-famous father-from his habits (good and bad ) to his writing routine to their family's colorful home life. Her frank, funny, tender biography (which came to be one of Twain's most prized possessions) gives rare insight and an unforgettable perspective on an American icon. Inserts with excerpts from Susy's actual journal give added appeal.

Author: Barbara Kerley
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Published: 01/01/2010
Pages: 48
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.17lbs
Size: 12.04h x 8.78w x 0.39d
ISBN: 9780545125086
Audience: Ages 9-12

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 5.8
Point Value: 0.5
Interest Level: Middle Grade
Quiz #/Name: 136067 / Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy)


Award: Oregon Book Awards - Finalist
Award: Cybils - Winner
Award: Bluebonnet Awards - Nominee
Award: Beehive Awards - Nominee
Award: William Allen White Childens Book Award - Nominee
Award: Land of Enchantment Book Award - Nominee
Award: Capitol Choices: Noteworthy Books for Children and Teens - Recommended
Award: Keystone to Reading Book Award - Nominee


Review Citation(s):
Booklist 12/01/2009 pg. 44
Publishers Weekly 12/14/2009 pg. 59
Kirkus Review - Children 12/15/2009
School Library Journal 01/01/2010 pg. 76
Horn Book Magazine 01/01/2010 pg. 101
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 03/01/2010
New York Times Book Review 05/16/2010 pg. 15
Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2010 - Superior,Well Above Average
Kirkus Best Children's Books 11/15/2010 pg. 4
Publishers Weekly Best Books 11/08/2010 pg. 31
SLJ's Best Books 12/01/2010 pg. 28

About the Author
Edwin Fotheringham's stylish, award-winning illustrations have graced the pages of The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and many other publications. He has illustrated numerous highly acclaimed nonfiction picture books, such as Barbara Kerley's What to Do About Alice?, a Sibert Honor Book and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor Book; The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy), a New York Public Library Best Children's Book; Those Rebels, John & Tom, an NCTE Orbis Pictus Award Honor Book; and A Home for Mr. Emerson, a NAPPA Gold Award winner; as well as younger fiction picture books, such as Pam Muñoz Ryan's Tony Baloney and the eponymous beginning reader series, Jennifer Hamburg's Monkey and Duck Quack Up!, a spring 2015 Indie Favorite, and Andria Rosenbaum's Big Sister, Little Monster. Ed lives in Seattle, Washington. Visit him online at edfotheringham.com.
Barbara Kerley is a two-time Sibert Honoree and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honoree whose award-winning biographies include What to Do About Alice?, The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy), Those Rebels, John & Tom, and A Home for Mr. Emerson, all illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham; Tigers & Tea with Toppy, illustrated by Matte Stephens; and The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins and Walt Whitman: Words for America, illustrated by Brian Selznick. Kerley's books have all been praised for their lively prose, meticulous research, and artistic presentation style. She lives in Portland, Oregon. Visit her online at barbarakerley.com.