Starting From Home: A Writer's Beginnings

by Milton Meltzer

"From his parents roots in villages of Eastern Europe to his own childhood in Massachusetts, Meltzer's memoir is not just a look at life but an introspective exploration of the influences of an era of history on that life." Booklinks 9/98

160 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1988

About the author

Milton Meltzer wrote 110 books, five of which were nominated for the National Book Award. With Langston Hughes, he co-authored A Pictorial History of Black Americans, now in its sixth edition. He received the 2001 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for his contribution to children's literature, the 1986 Jane Addams Peace Association Children's Book Award, and the 2000 Regina Medal. He died in New York City of esophageal cancer at age 94.

Reviews

[Elizabeth Castro · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading about World War 2, Hitler, and the Great Depression from an immigrant family's perspective. Milton Meltzer dangles the fact that one day he would become a future writer throughout the book.
He shows you his upbringing, hence the book's title, "Starting From Home, A Writer's Beginnings. Be warned that the book just stops and the reader is left hanging, literally.
Milton and his family barely squeak by during the depression. He leaves high school a month early to work in his grandfather's factory. He did not like factory work. The end. Nothing about how he became a writer.
Disappointed, I thought back to the title, yes, it did say A Writer's Beginnings, and nothing more.