Jordan, Sherryl 1949- (Sherryl Brogden)

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Jordan, Sherryl 1949- (Sherryl Brogden)

PERSONAL:

Born June 8, 1949, in Hawera, New Zealand; daughter of Alan Vivian and Patricia Brogden; married Lee Jordan, 1970; children: Kym. Education: Attended Tauranga Girls' College, 1962-64; two years of nursing training, 1967-68. Religion: Christian. Hobbies and other interests: "Music, friends, conversation, and solitude to write."

ADDRESSES:

Home—Tauranga, New Zealand. Agent—Adams Literary, 7845 Colony Rd., C4 Ste. 215, Charlotte, NC 28226.

CAREER:

Illustrator, 1980-85; full-time writer, 1988—. Part-time teacher's aide in primary schools, working with profoundly deaf children, 1979-87. Writer-in-residence, University of Iowa, 1993. Speaker at schools and conferences in New Zealand, Australia, Denmark, and the United States.

MEMBER:

Children's Literature Association (Bay of Plenty branch, committee member), Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, New Zealand Children's Book Foundation, New Zealand Society of Authors.

AWARDS, HONORS:

National illustrating competition winner, 1980; Choysa Bursary, 1988, for Rocco; AIM Story Book of the Year Award, New Zealand, 1991, for Rocco; AIM Junior Story Book of the Year Award, 1992, for The Wednesday Wizard; fellowship, University of Iowa, 1993; Pick of the List, American Bookseller, 1993, Best Book for Young Adults, American Library Association (ALA), chosen as a Recommended Book for the Reluctant Young Adult Reader, ALA, Children's Book of the Year, Bank Street School of Education, both 1994, and listed in Whitcoull's New Zealand Top 100 books, 1997, all for Winter of Fire; Best Book for Young Adults, ALA, 1995, for Tanith (Wolf-Woman); best book in translation award (Belgium), 1999, and Junior Library Guild selection, 2000, both for Secret Sacrament; Junior Library Guild selection, Best Children's Book of the Year, Bank Street College of Education, Best Book, School Library Journal, all 1999, Ten Best Books for Young Adults, ALA, Books for the Teen Age, New York Public Library, NASEN Special Needs Award, Notable New Zealand Children's and Young Adult Books citation, New Zealand Children's Book Foundation, all 2000, and Wirral Paperback of the Year, 2001, all for The Raging Quiet; Margaret Mahy Medal and Lecture Award, Children's Literature Foundation of New Zealand, 2001, for contributions to children's literature, publishing, and literacy.

WRITINGS:

FICTION

(Self-illustrated) The Firewind and the Song (juvenile), Kagyusha Publishers, 1984.

Matthew's Monsters (juvenile), illustrated by Dierdre Gardiner, Ashton Scholastic, 1986.

No Problem Pomperoy (juvenile), illustrated by Jan van der Voo, Century Hutchinson, 1988.

Kittens (juvenile), Shortlands, 1989.

The Wobbly Tooth (juvenile), Shortlands, 1989.

Babysitter Bear (juvenile), illustrated by Trevor Pye, Century Hutchinson, 1990.

Rocco (young adult fantasy), Ashton Scholastic, 1990, published as A Time of Darkness, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1990.

The Juniper Game (young adult), Scholastic (New York, NY), 1991.

Winter of Fire (young adult), Scholastic (New York, NY), 1992.

The Other Side of Midnight, illustrated by Brian Pollard, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1993.

Tanith (young adult), Omnibus, 1994, published as Wolf-Woman, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1994.

Sign of the Lion, Penguin, 1995.

Secret Sacrament (young adult), Penguin, 1996, Harper-Collins (New York, NY), 2001.

The Raging Quiet (young adult), Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1999.

The Hunting of the Last Dragon (young adult), Harper-Collins (New York, NY), 2002.

Time of the Eagle (sequel to Secret Sacrament), Eos (New York, NY), 2007.

"DENZIL" TRILOGY

The Wednesday Wizard, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1991.

Denzil's Dilemma, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1992.

Denzil's Great Bear Burglary, Mallinson Rendel, 1997.

ILLUSTRATOR; WRITTEN BY JOY COWLEY

Mouse, Shortland, 1983.

Tell-tale, Shortland, 1983.

The Silent One, Whitcoull's, 1984.

Mouse Monster, Shortland, 1985.

Contributor to journals, including New Zealand Author, Southern Scribe, and Signal.

SIDELIGHTS:

Award-winning New Zealand author Sherryl Jordan began her writing career with books for children, but soon moved on to novels for older readers. Her breakthrough came with Rocco, and since that time she has gone on to pen many more titles for young adult and juvenile readers that have been published both in her native New Zealand and throughout the world. The recipient of a 1993 fellowship to the prestigious Writing Program at the University of Iowa, Jordan used her time in the United States to speak widely at schools and conferences about her books, which blend fantasy with bits of science fiction and romantic realism. "All my young adult novels have been gifts," she noted in the St. James Guide to Children's Writers. "I don't think them up. They hit me over the head when I least expect them; overwhelm me with impressions, sights, and sounds of their new worlds; enchant me with their characters; and dare me to write them."

The road to success, however, was a long one for Jordan. Born in Hawera, New Zealand, in 1949, she started writing stories and even novels when she was only ten years old, which her hopeful teachers sent out to publishers, but none of them sold. Though she attended a nurse's training school, Jordan was always headed for a career in writing or illustration. "From my earliest days I was also good at art," Jordan once commented. "I began to seriously work on children's books in 1980, when I won a national competition for illustrations for my work on Joy Crowley's book The Silent One." Jordan continued illustrating for several more years, but she finally decided writing was the one thing she loved more than anything else.

Throughout her long apprenticeship, Jordan wrote twenty-seven books for children as well as twelve novels. Three of her books for younger readers were published and none of the novels. With novel number thirteen, however, she decided she would make or break her career: if the book was rejected, she would give up writing. Fortunately for readers, she hit it big with number thirteen, Rocco, which was published in the United States as A Time of Darkness. A fantasy for young adults, the book explores themes ranging from the nature of time to parallel worlds through the journey of a contemporary teenager in search of himself. Rocco, the teenager in question, has recurring dreams of a wolf leaping toward him. Each time, he awakes from these dreams scared and smelling of wood smoke. Finally, he awakes to find that he has slipped in time; he is in a valley called Anshur where the people dress in animal skins and live in caves. Rocco quickly adapts to their lifestyle. At first, Rocco believes he is living in the past, but slowly, as the clues accumulate, he realizes he is actually in a post-holocaust future. Suddenly returned to his own time, Rocco feels he must stop the chain of events that will lead to his dreams of Anshur.

Submitted for the 1988 Choysa Bursary prize in New Zealand, Rocco won, and publication of the novel was assured. Critics around the world were impressed with this debut novel. Writing in Magpies, Jo Goodman called the book "an impressive first novel," while a reviewer for Junior Bookshelf wrote: "So coherently, continuous and convincing is the narration that the reader will be forgiven for taking it as reality." The reviewer went on to note that the story "plucks cleverly at the hidden hopes and fears of humanity." Reviewing the United States edition of the novel under the title A Time of Darkness, Gene Lafaille commented in Wilson Library Bulletin that the book "is a strong, dramatic adventure novel that explores interesting family relationships with their inevitable tensions and moments of humor." Lafaille further noted that A Time of Darkness is "suspenseful" and "rapid-paced … with a wide range of emotions." Writing in Voice of Youth Advocates, Catherine M. Dwyer observed that A Time of Darkness has all the right elements: "characters that the reader cares about, a story line that captures the imagination, and an ending that does not disappoint."

With her next novel, The Juniper Game, Jordan further explores the world of telepathy, a sub-theme in her first novel. Juniper is a contemporary girl fascinated by the medieval world and by the possibilities of telepathy. She persuades her classmate Dylan to help her with an experiment in sending each other messages. They soon become quite successful at the game, but when Juniper sends him pictures of medieval England, they are transported to a far-distant time and become involved with a young woman, Joanna, who is accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake. "With vividly depicted, believable characters, this is superior fantasy," declared a writer for Kirkus Reviews. Booklist contributor Chris Sherman observed, "Fantasy lovers will enjoy Jordan's story," while Dwyer asserted in Voice of Youth Advocates that "Jordan has again demonstrated her skill as a storyteller."

Next up for Jordan was a novel for younger readers, The Wednesday Wizard, about Denzil, a medieval sorcerer's apprentice who discovers a spell to send him through time. Reversing the time slip of The Juniper Game, Jordan sends this young apprentice catapulting forward through time to 1990s New Zealand, where he takes up lodgings with the MacAllister family with humorous results. "Whoever it is that suffers the most displacement, plenty of humour arises from the inevitable confusions that occur," noted Ann Darnton in a School Librarian review. Two more Denzil novels followed: Denzil's Dilemma, in which a friend from the future comes back to Denzil's world to visit him, and Denzil's Great Bear Burglary. In the latter title, the young apprentice gets into trouble for stealing a dancing bear from a passing circus and rushes forward in time to escape the problems this has created for him in his own time. The MacAllister household is once again his refuge, but this time the future holds as much chaos as the past. In the end, however, all turns out well, as in all the "Denzil" books. But the three books of this trilogy are more than just lighthearted reading, Frances Hoffman pointed out in a Magpies review of the third book in the series. "Some serious issues, in particular the ethics of animal experimentation, are also touched on in the book," observed Hoffman, "giving depth to this well-written and thoroughly recommended novel." Another book for younger readers is the picture book The Other Side of Midnight, which is also set in a medieval age. In this story, a young girl who has been orphaned by the plague goes in search of her brother and ends up finding out some hard truths about herself.

Following the writing of the first "Denzil" book, Jordan was diagnosed with repetition strain injury, a result of her many years of typing manuscripts. Her physician told her she might never be able to type again, but she has managed to continue writing, though she concentrates only on novels. In a way, she commented, the writing of the young adult novel Winter of Fire was something of a salvation for her. This novel about a young slave woman called Elsha helped Jordan work through her own affliction. Elsha "was unstoppable, charismatic, and a warrior at soul," Jordan said. "It was only because of her that I refused to accept that my writing days were over—only because of her that I picked myself up out of despair and wrote another book. We were warriors together in our battles against the impossible."

In Elsha's future world, the sun has been blocked by a meteorite shower that has caused the natural equivalent of a nuclear winter. Society has been divided into the haves, the Chosen, and the have-nots, the Quelled, who work the coal mines. One of the Quelled, Elsha, longs for freedom for herself and her people. "Winter of Fire chronicles Elsha's quest to achieve her desires," noted Magpies reviewer Stephanie Owen Reeder, "and does it brilliantly." Reeder further commented: "This is strong, compelling and moving reading of the fantasy/quest genre," with "strongly delineated" characters and a "carefully crafted" plot. Cathi Dunn MacRae, writing in Wilson Library Bulletin, felt that young adult fantasy fans "will certainly appreciate Elsha's courageous pursuit of her revolutionary vision amid persecution and disbelief." MacRae called special attention to the "atmosphere of spirituality" that "pervades the whole tale." A writer for Publishers Weekly also observed that, "as a whole, the stalwart heroine's visionary struggles are nothing short of inspiring."

In Tanith, published in the United States as Wolf-Woman, a young girl from the distant past is raised by wolves until the age of three. Then, removed from her den, she lives for many years as the daughter of the chief of a warrior-like clan who delights in slaughtering other tribes as well as the wolves who were once Tanith's protectors. She becomes a companion to the chief's wife, but Tanith never feels really accepted in her human society, and finally she must choose between wolves and men. Reviewing the title in Booklist, Candace Smith commented on the "prehistoric imagery and legend" in which Jordan's tale is steeped, and called the story "a compelling search for identity and self-worth within a richly drawn setting." Roger Sutton, writing in Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, concluded: "Tanith's ultimate rejection of human society … closes the novel on a note of splendid defiance, and most readers will hope for a sequel."

In Secret Sacrament Jordan once again employs an imaginary world, Navora, where young Gabriel must come to terms with individual choices. Instead of following in his father's footsteps as a merchant, he opts to become a Healer in the Citadel. Falling afoul of palace intrigues, however, he flees to the Shinali people, who are subjugated by the Navoran Empire, and there falls in love and begins to fight for the rights of the dispossessed. A writer for the St. James Guide to Children's Writers called the novel Jordan's "most ambitious tale to date." Originally published in New Zealand in 1995, a revised edition appeared in the United States in 2001.

Jordan returned to her familiar ground of the Middle Ages for her 1999 novel, The Raging Quiet. In this book the author creates a historical romance rather than a fantasy. Marnie is a young widow who is trying to make the best of her life in a small village by the sea. She befriends a local wild boy whom the villagers think is mad and possessed by the devil, but Marnie discovers that he is simply deaf. When she begins communicating with him with hand gestures, the villagers are sure she is a witch, but the resourceful Marnie refuses to become a victim of ignorance. "This well-written novel is an irresistible historical romance that also offers important messages about love, acceptance, respect, and the tragic repercussions of closed minds," wrote Shelle Rosenfeld in a Booklist review. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly noted that "Jordan blends a zealous supporting cast with the flavor of Hawthorne with the societal forces of Hardy as she plays out Marnie's tortuous fate." A writer for Kirkus Reviews called the book "a passionate and sensuous tale," and concluded: "Fire and sweetness, the pulse of daily existence, how to cope with differences, and the several kinds of love are all present, wrapped in a page-turner to keep readers enthralled." Claire Rosser declared in Kliatt: "This novel is quite an achievement, and one that will surely appear on best books lists as more and more people discover it."

The Hunting of the Last Dragon is set in medieval England in the year 1356. The protagonist is peasant Jude of Doran, who is dictating the story of his life to Brother Benedict at the Monastery of St. Edmund. Although it is believed that brave knights had killed all the dragons in England, one is now burning down villages. Jude relates that he had lost much of his family to the dragon, and he sought to buy a new bow to defend his father. Rosser began her review in Kliatt by writing: "Few write for YAs with the skill Jordan has at her disposal…. She combines the power of myth with dramatic characters that resonate with modern readers."

His tale proceeds as he meets swordsman Tybalt, who performs with a circus and who keeps in a cage Jingwei, a Chinese girl with bound feet, displayed as a freak called Lizzie Little-feet, but who is in fact nobility. When Jude fails to save his father, Tybalt and the girl join him. Jude befriends the Jing-wei, and they run off together. Jing-wei is eventually helped by Lan, a Chinese woman believed to be a witch, and the woman helps the girl survive the agonizing surgeries need to straighten the bones of her feet. Lan also tells Jude that he must kill the last dragon.

Booklist contributor Sally Estes described Jordan's writing as "mannered yet lyrical as the rich tale spins out into a lovely combination of fantasy, historical fiction, and romance."

Time of the Eagle is the sequel to Secret Sacrament. The narrator is Avala, daughter of Gabriel, who died at the conclusion of the first book, and a Shinali woman, who tells of her life as a healer. Avala never knew her father and learned the healing arts from her mother and grandmother. A Kirkus Reviews contributor commented: "Avala's transition from naive adolescent to mature, wise, yet still idealistic woman is delicately rendered."

Avala is also the one destined to bring about the Time of the Eagle, prophesied as being the downfall of the Navoran emperor and the restoration of the Shinali tribe. She learns of her destiny during the celebration of her sixteenth birthday. Avala is torn by her wish to remain a healer and her charge to lead the assault and to unite the city-dwelling Navorans and the nomadic Igaal with the Shinali in order to accomplish this goal. Before she can begin her task, Avala is kidnapped by the Igaal tribe, members of which she heals. However, even the handsome Ishtok, an Igaal carver, cannot ease her sadness as she yearns to see her family and weighs the responsibilities she faces.

Chris Shanley-Dillman reviewed the book for Teenreads.com, concluding: "This historical novel travels swiftly through the many pages of colorful descriptions, high-energy action and beautiful words shared between memorable characters." Shanley-Dillman felt that it was not necessary to read the first book in order to enjoy this one.

In her books, Jordan combines a compelling narrative line with rich imagination. According to critics, her fantasy and historical worlds are well thought out and filled with the details of the quotidian, whether actual or fantastical. Lightly sprinkled throughout are lessons to be learned, insights to be gained. "In all of my books there is that lesson that life itself has taught me," Jordan commented. "I hope all my books will inspire readers to explore these astounding fields themselves—to realize that all is not what it seems and that there are no boundaries between fact and fiction, the tangible and the mystical, the real and the truth we imagine."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

St. James Guide to Children's Writers, 5th edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1999.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 15, 1991, Chris Sherman, review of The Juniper Game, p. 617; November 15, 1994, Candace Smith, review of Wolf-Woman, p. 590; May 1, 1999, Shelle Rosenfeld, review of The Raging Quiet, p. 1587; April 15, 2002, Sally Estes, review of The Hunting of the Last Dragon, p. 1416; May 15, 2007, Holly Koelling, review of Time of the Eagle, p. 59.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, December, 1994, Roger Sutton, review of Wolf-Woman, pp. 131-132.

Junior Bookshelf, August, 1992, review of Rocco, pp. 153-154.

Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 1991, review of The Juniper Game, p. 1011; March 15, 1999, review of The Raging Quiet, p. 451; May 15, 2002, review of The Hunting of the Last Dragon, p. 735; July 1, 2007, review of Time of the Eagle.

Kliatt, March, 1999, Claire Rosser, review of The Raging Quiet, p. 8; July, 2002, Claire Rosser, review of The Hunting of the Last Dragon, p. 11; July, 2007, Claire Rosser, review of Time of the Eagle, p. 16.

Magpies, November, 1991, Jo Goodman, review of Rocco, p. 32; November, 1993, Stephanie Owen Reeder, review of Winter of Fire, p. 34; March, 1998, Frances Hoffman, review of Denzil's Great Bear Burglary, p. 7.

Publishers Weekly, January 4, 1993, review of Winter of Fire, p. 73; March 22, 1999, review of The Raging Quiet, p. 93.

School Librarian, February 4, 1994, Ann Darnton, review of The Wednesday Wizard, p. 21.

School Library Journal, July, 2002, John Peters, review of The Hunting of the Last Dragon, p. 121; September, 2007, June H. Keuhn, review of Time of the Eagle, p. 200.

Voice of Youth Advocates, December, 1990, Catherine M. Dwyer, review of A Time of Darkness, p. 298; December, 1991, Catherine M. Dwyer, review of The Juniper Game, p. 313.

Wilson Library Bulletin, April, 1991, Gene Lafaille, review of A Time of Darkness, p. 107; April, 1993, Cathi Dunn MacRae, review of Winter of Fire, p. 100.