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34th out of 78 books
—
131 voters
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.
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...more
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...more
Hardcover, 48 pages
Published
January 1st 2010
by Scholastic Press
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I was stunned when I came across this– Twain’s work for children has been (and will continue to be) banned and challenged from here to eternity, so a slick new picture book biography about him (published by Scholastic no less) was about the last thing I expected. Always the skeptic I picked it up thinking it couldn’t amount to much and boy was I wrong. Using Twain’s youngest daughter Susy’s perspective was a stroke of pure genius and now I’m seriously disgruntled that I didn’t think of it first!...more
Genre: Biography
Summary: Susy twain is determined to set the record straight about her father, Mark Twain, and writes a biography of his life according to her carful observations.
Critique: A. Unique and refreshing perspective
B. This story is told from the perspective of Susy, which is very intriguing because as his daughter, she knew him outside of his published books and public appearances. Susy wanted readers to know the real Mark Twain, not the person people assumed him to be based on his bo...more
Summary: Susy twain is determined to set the record straight about her father, Mark Twain, and writes a biography of his life according to her carful observations.
Critique: A. Unique and refreshing perspective
B. This story is told from the perspective of Susy, which is very intriguing because as his daughter, she knew him outside of his published books and public appearances. Susy wanted readers to know the real Mark Twain, not the person people assumed him to be based on his bo...more
Summary: This biography of Mark Twain is written by his 13 year old daughter Suzie and is complimented and compiled by the authors. It is a biography within a biography and gives an intimate and interesting portrait of Samuel Clemens - including fun tidbits about his life and personality - like how he threw his shirt on the lawn to alert the housekeeper that they were missing a button, or how he paced while writing. It has a lot of interesting insights into "The Funniest Man in America". A much...more
I am ashamed to admit that as English teacher, I did not know a lot about Mark Twain / Samuel Clemens other than the basics. That being said, this book provided a glimpse into his private life so that I now have a better feeling of who he was as a person. This book is based upon the unfinished biography by Clemens' 13 year old daughter, Susy. (SN: Twain was so delighted with Susy's book that he used it when he wrote his autobiography.) The illustrations are attractive, colorful, and well done an...more
This is a different sort of biography--a story about how a 13-year old girl writes a biography of her famous father, Mark Twain, so that people can get to know that he is more than just a humorist, but also a philosopher.
The book tells about Twain's family and personal life, and interspersed throughout are Susy's telling comments about her beloved Papa. Susy clearly loved and admired her father, but also shared some of his personal faults; for example, she remarks that he has a temper, and is ve...more
The book tells about Twain's family and personal life, and interspersed throughout are Susy's telling comments about her beloved Papa. Susy clearly loved and admired her father, but also shared some of his personal faults; for example, she remarks that he has a temper, and is ve...more
Award-winning writer Barbara Kerley, author of the acclaimed picture books Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins and What To Do About Alice, among others, has provided a unique perspective on Mark Twain for young readers by sharing the story of how Twain's 13 year old daughter Susy researched and wrote a biography of her famous father.
She decided to write his biography because people who thought they knew the world-famous writer were "just plain wrong about her papa." Yes, he was a humorist, but Susy...more
She decided to write his biography because people who thought they knew the world-famous writer were "just plain wrong about her papa." Yes, he was a humorist, but Susy...more
Jun 27, 2010
Kathryn
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommended to Kathryn by:
Chandra
Shelves:
biographies,
childrens-picture-books
I really enjoyed Kerley and Fotheringham's What to Do about Alice?: How Alice Roosevelt Broke the Rules, Charmed the World, and Drove Her Father Teddy Crazy! and I have enjoyed many of Twain's books so I was very excited when my GoodReads friend Chandra recommended this book to me. I'm pleased to say that it did not disappoint.
I love the idea of a biography of the famous Mark Twain being told from a young person's perspective--and that of his daughter, no less. Best of all, it's TRUE! At age thi...more
I love the idea of a biography of the famous Mark Twain being told from a young person's perspective--and that of his daughter, no less. Best of all, it's TRUE! At age thi...more
3 likes · like · see review
At age 13, Susy, the daughter of Mark Twain, was annoyed that people writing biographies of her father got things wrong. So she decided to write her own biography of her famous father because she truly knew him. At first Susy’s biography was a secret but soon her parents had discovered her book and her father helped by offering quotes at opportune moments. In her biography, Susy told of her father’s childhood, his public side and his private life. She documented his finer qualities and also his...more
Getting children into biographies is no easy task so I am always on the lookout for biographies that use creative design, interesting subjects, etc. The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy) is a great example of how to turn what could have been just another biography about Mark Twain into something fun, fresh, exciting and entertaining.
Ms. Kerley discovered that Twain's 13 year old daughter, Susy, had written a biography about her father. This little notebook became the inspiration for K...more
Ms. Kerley discovered that Twain's 13 year old daughter, Susy, had written a biography about her father. This little notebook became the inspiration for K...more
A biography that will keep a child's attention and prompt them to read more nonfiction. Suzy was Mark Twain's daughter and she kept a journal that turned into her father's biography. She describes her father in ways that only a close family member would be able to. The author, Barbar Kerley, was able to tell the story of Mark Twain while using Suzy's own words. It's easy to tell when Kerley is narrating and when Suzy is because Suzy's parts are in little folds of paper within a two page spread....more
Frustrated and annoyed by the public opinions and descriptions of her father, Mark Twain's daughter, 13-year-old Susy Clemens, decided that she would right the situation by writing her own biography of her father.
In this wonderful picture book Barbara Kerley offers some basic information about Mark Twain, but cleverly incorporates exerpts from Susy's biography of Twain into her own text by way of smaller insert pages in the form of Susy's journal. This book-within-a-book format is extremely effe...more
In this wonderful picture book Barbara Kerley offers some basic information about Mark Twain, but cleverly incorporates exerpts from Susy's biography of Twain into her own text by way of smaller insert pages in the form of Susy's journal. This book-within-a-book format is extremely effe...more
This book gives children a good insight and idea about Mark Twain/ Samuel Clemens and makes you feel as though you are getting to know him as a person more than just as the famous author he was. I think this book is an inspiration and it is amazing that some of the information and excerpts in the book are actually coming from his daughter. His daughter secretly kept tabs on her father when she was thirteen, until her parents discovered that she had actually been taking notes on him the whole tim...more
Really interesting premise and format: biography of a biography, of sorts. The author tells the story of how Twain's daughter wrote her biography of her father--with original journal pages from the daughter's journal inserted at places in the text (literally there are journal pages, smaller than the rest of the book and separate from the actual pages of the book). IN the back of the book, besides the author's notes, is a page of directions for readers to use to write their own biographies with c...more
This book would make a fantastic introduction to the life of Mark Twain for nearly any age group. I am not sure that younger students (K-3) would have enough background knowledge to understand who Mark Twain was, but students reading "Tom Sawyer" or "Huckleberry Finn" would enjoy the personal background information on Twain. This book is a book within a book, the larger book being an illustrated biography of Twain (presumably written by Kerley), but the journal entries contained in the smaller b...more
13 year old Susy Clemens knew Mark Twain just about as well as anybody. She lived with him after all. Susy decided that no one had succeeded in writing an acceptable biography of her famous father so she set out to do so herself. This book is a picture of Susy and life in the Celmens household as she wrote the very personal biography of Mark Twain. Included are pages and paragraphs from the original journal and quotes by Mark Twain himself. IN the end, “people got what Susy thought they needed:...more
This book is valuable because it introduces the concept of biographies-what they are and how they are written. If you are familiar with Mark Twain, this book has many interesting aspects of his life, but I am afraid most children reading this book will not know of him and from this book they will not learn why he is of interest today. The book's presentation of the biography and separate smaller journal entries is very interesting. Edwin Fotheringham's illustrations are very interesting and upbe...more
Apr 16, 2011
Charlyn Trussell
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommended to Charlyn by:
Texas Bluebonnet Award Reading List 2011-12
Seeking to right the misrepresentations of other biographers, Twain's daughter wrote her own biography of her famous father. Susy first wrote the journal and hid it under her pillow, but eventually her parents learned of her activity and Twain spouted tidbits purely for the young girl's benefit. Reproduced within this book on small journal pages inserted among the longer narrative, even Susy's misspellings and grammatical errors are reproduced. What is created is a personal portrait of the humor...more
Mark Twain's daughter Susy writes her version of her father's biography. Humorous and clever!
Example:
"The other day, mamma went into the library and found papa sitting there reading a book, and roaring with laughter over it; she asked him what he was reading, he answered that he hadn't stopped to look at the title of the book. . . she glanced over his shoulder at the cover, and found it was one of his own books."
The other day we were all sitting when papa told Clara and I that he would give us a...more
Example:
"The other day, mamma went into the library and found papa sitting there reading a book, and roaring with laughter over it; she asked him what he was reading, he answered that he hadn't stopped to look at the title of the book. . . she glanced over his shoulder at the cover, and found it was one of his own books."
The other day we were all sitting when papa told Clara and I that he would give us a...more
An amazing picture book biography of Mark Twain, seen through the eyes of his thirteen year old daughter Susy. The richly colored illustrations are really inviting, with lively people and animals and energetic pen swirls at the sides. Many two page spreads include a small brown "journal" in-between them, which can be opened so that you can read Suzy's own thoughts. I really appreciate the source notes -- quotes are in a different font and sources are included on the endpapers. Kerley even includ...more
I never paid much attention to Twain's life after his childhood. I didn't think about him being married, and had no idea he had children. So to read excerpts of a biography his 13-year old daughter wrote of him was very nice. Interesting format for the book. I didn't love it, but I did like it and a couple of parts I really liked. I learned a few more things about Twain that I would have never guessed. Not a bad choice for the Beehive award. I'll need to see what the other "informational books"...more
"Thirteen year old Susy Clemens wants the world to know that her papa, Mark Twain, is more than just a humorist and sets out to write a comprehensive biography of the American icon." A lovely story of a daughter's perspective into her famous father's life. A book within a book; journal inserts are Susy's words of her father. End pages include a short time of Mark Twain's life, author's notes on Mark Twain/Samuel Clemens and Susy, and a how-to write help. Pages are fully illustrated in digital me...more
Jan 27, 2011
Terry
marked it as wish-list
Once again, Tasha Saeker (Kids Lit) hooked me on a book. This time it is her review of The Extraordinary Life of Mark Twain (According to Susy). "Highly recommended, this is a great biographical picture book for elementary-aged students. It is also ideal to share with children who want to be writers since it shows not only Twain’s process but gives readers a young writer to model themselves after as well. Appropriate for ages 8-12."
Bluebonnet Nominee 2011-2012 - Fiction Biography
Susy, daughter of Mark Twain, attempts to tell people what they don't see when they look at her father. How he is humerous yes but also serious when at home, how he uses "strong language" and how mother has to mark his manuscripts to show where Papa needs to "clean up any questionable passages."
This book also includes a time line of Mark Twains life, a source list, authors notes on both Mark Twain and Susy as well as a how to on writing an extraor...more
Susy, daughter of Mark Twain, attempts to tell people what they don't see when they look at her father. How he is humerous yes but also serious when at home, how he uses "strong language" and how mother has to mark his manuscripts to show where Papa needs to "clean up any questionable passages."
This book also includes a time line of Mark Twains life, a source list, authors notes on both Mark Twain and Susy as well as a how to on writing an extraor...more
Absolutely delightful. And, what a writer 13 year-old Susy is, even though her father commented on her "frequently desperate" spelling. Mark Twain also said, "This is a frank biographer and an honest one; she uses no sandpaper on me." It's especially nice that Barbara Kerley included excerpts from Susy's diary which are placed in the book as separate mini-book inserts, spelling unchanged. Illustrator Edwin Fotheringham has done a wonderful job, too. How neat that we have this book on the 100th a...more
critica del libro Mark Twain Ami me encanta biografico este librose trata del autor mas famoso Mark Twain. el libro esta escrto en el punto de vista de susy. la hija de Mark Twain. susy esplica gue su papa es serio, no es no es chistoso como el mundo chistosos yo me recuerdo gue my papi no es serio es chistoso lo me pregunto porgue es muy aburido Mark Twain guiero recordar cuantos perros tenia Mark Twain este libro se lo voy amandar a mi yegge.
Oct 09, 2010
Lisa Vegan
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Twain fans; encouraging kids to write; kids who enjoy biographies & kids who have accomplishments
Recommended to Lisa by:
Chandra
Wow! I loved this book. This is a true account of how Twain’s 13 year old daughter Susy spent over a year working on a biography of her father.
A bit sad given that Susy died at only 24 years of age, but what I really noticed was how poignantly it showed one example of what it feels like to be the child of a famous parent.
Twain was a very funny man and Susy and this book managed to capture some of that. But Susy was careful to show all facets of her father’s personality and many details about his...more
A bit sad given that Susy died at only 24 years of age, but what I really noticed was how poignantly it showed one example of what it feels like to be the child of a famous parent.
Twain was a very funny man and Susy and this book managed to capture some of that. But Susy was careful to show all facets of her father’s personality and many details about his...more
5 likes · like · see review
Last year, Mermaid Queen: The Spectacular True Story Of Annette Kellerman, Who Swam Her Way To Fame, Fortune & Swimsuit History! was considered a Caldecott contender, so how about this book illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham? I love all the "words" swirling out of Twain's mouth, books, imagination...
This is actually a really cool biography of Mark Twain for upper elementary age children. It is a retelling of the efforts made by Mark Twain's daughter Susy to write a biography of her father. The book talks about how Susy did this and described in more details the life of Mark Twain. Interspersed throughout are small "books" with the actually wording from Susy's journal. The illustrations do a nice job to highlight the text. Definitely a book to have as part of a classroom collection.
Ami me encanta este libro biografico. Este libro se trata de Mark Twain, un actor famoso. El libro esta escrito en el punto de vista, Susy la hija de Mark Twain. Susy explica que su papa es serio no es chistoso como el mundo pienza. Mi esquema es que mi prima Jeovanna tiene un gatito que se llama Chanel. Porque Mark Twain tiene como mil de gatos? Quiero recordar que Susy escribio un libro de su papa. Yo recomiendo este libro a Ms.Juan porque es interesante y creo que le va a gustar.
A mi me encanta este libro biografico.Este libro se trata del autor famoso Mark Twain.El libro esta escrito en el punto de vista de susy,la hija de Mark Twain.Susy explica que su papa es serio,no es chistoso como el mundo piesa.Mi esquema es que yo vi una senoracon muchos gatos como Mark Twain.Me pregunto.Porque tenia tantos gatos el senor Mark Twain.Quiro recordar que susy escribio un libro de su papa.Yo recomiendo este libro a todos los autores rec omindo este lidro a Alexis.
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updated Jun 29, 2010 08:41am
Jun 29, 2010 11:13am