MURROW, Liza Ketchum 1946-

(Liza Ketchum)

PERSONAL: Born June 17, 1946, in Albany, NY; daughter of Richard M. (a writer and historian) and Barbara (a sheep farmer and conservationist; maiden name, Bray) Ketchum; married John Straus (a pediatrician); children: Derek, Ethan. Education: Sarah Lawrence College, B.A., 1968; Antioch Graduate School of Education, M.Ed., 1971. Hobbies and other interests: Hiking, skiing, wilderness activities, studying Italian and other foreign languages.

ADDRESSES: Home and office—7 Arthur Ter., Watertown, MA 02472.

CAREER: Teacher and writer. Meetinghouse School, Marlboro, VT, founder and director, 1973-78; participant in the Vermont Council of the Arts Artist in Education Program, 1988-91; adjunct faculty member at Antioch Graduate School and University of Vermont; leader of writing workshops; consultant. Brattleboro AIDS Project, volunteer and buddy.

MEMBER: Authors Guild, Authors League of America, Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Teachers and Writers Collaborative, Vermont Nature Conservancy.

AWARDS, HONORS: Virginia Jefferson Cup Honor Book, Virginia Library Association, 1988, for West against the Wind; best young adult novel, 1990, American Library Association, and Mark Twain Award list, 1991-92, both for Fire in the Heart; Mark Twain Award list and Sequoyah Award list, both 1993-94, both for The Ghost of Lost Island; Lambda Literary Award, 1998, for Blue Coyote. Good-bye, Sammy was a Junior Literary Guild selection and Children's Choice Book.

WRITINGS:

young adult novels

West against the Wind, Holiday House (New York, NY), 1987.

Fire in the Heart (companion to West against the Wind), Holiday House (New York, NY), 1989.

Twelve Days in August, Holiday House (New York, NY), 1993.

(Under name Liza Ketchum) Blue Coyote (sequel to Twelve Days in August), Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1997.

for children

Good-bye, Sammy (picture book), illustrated by Gail Owens, Holiday House (New York, NY), 1989.

Dancing on the Table, illustrated by Ron Himler, Holiday House (New York, NY), 1990.

The Ghost of Lost Island, Holiday House (New York, NY), 1991.

Allergic to My Family, Holiday House (New York, NY), 1992.

(Under name Liza Ketchum) Orphan Journey Home, Avon Books (New York, NY), 2000.

nonfiction

(With Casey Murrow) Children Come First: The Inspired Work of English Primary Schools, American Heritage Press (New York, NY), 1971.

Lolly Cochran, Veterinarian, The Teachers' Laboratory (Brattleboro, VT), 1989.

Susan Humphris, Geologist, The Teachers' Laboratory (Brattleboro, VT), 1989.

(Under name Liza Ketchum) The Gold Rush, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1996.

(Under name Liza Ketchum) Into a New Country: Eight Remarkable Women of the West, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 2000.

other

Contributor of articles to periodicals, including Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Bulletin, Country Journal, New England Gardener, and Teachers and Writers. Poetry published in Poems in a Time of War, an anthology published in Brattleboro, VT, in 1991.

WORK IN PROGRESS: An adult novel about the relationship between art and science; The Power of Dreams (working title), a children's book about Vaudeville set in 1913.

SIDELIGHTS: "I started writing in second grade," children's book and young adult novel author Liza Ketchum Murrow once commented, "creating tiny, palm-sized books about a girl who escaped all her troubles by riding off on the back of a fleet-footed white stallion. I wrote these books under the covers at night, with a flashlight, when my parents thought I had gone to sleep. I was lucky to have parents who encouraged my creative endeavors; my mother was a dancer and very involved in the arts, my father a writer and historian. Books and stories and music were always a part of our household, and my parents entered into the imaginary world my brother and I created with our stuffed animals, pretending, with us, that these were real characters, each with a different voice and distinctive personality."

"After college I began teaching, studied and wrote about education in England, and founded a school in Vermont. During those years, the inner creative lives of children became very important to me. I listened with amazement to the poems, songs, and stories that poured from children's hearts. My own children were born and delighted me with their ability to paint, draw, and build. While I was teaching full time, I tried to write on the side, but was unable to produce more than a few magazine articles. A friend, knowing of my secret desire to create novels, asked, 'If you like kids so much, why haven't you written a book for them?' This was the spark that began my first young adult novel, West against the Wind."

In West against the Wind, Murrow, who typically writes under the name Liza Ketchum, tells the story of Abigail and her family's trek across the country to California in 1850. Ketchum describes the dangers and monotony of the trip through Abigail's eyes. As she approaches womanhood, she hopes for another kind of life in California, where she can "be herself, for the very first time." At the center of Ketchum's next novel for young adults, Fire in the Heart, is a mystery that leads fourteen-year-old Molly O'Connor to discover the connection between her mother's death ten years ago and her ancestors, including Abby from West against the Wind. Molly sifts through family photos, listens to family stories, and reads old letters, discovering unknown aspects of the woman who was her mother, and clues that may lead her to the nugget of gold buried by Abigail Parker in California, which her mother was seeking when she was killed in an accident. Reviewing Fire in the Heart for the Children's Book Review Service, Ann Kalkhoff praised Ketchum's "sensitivity to the fears and doubts of youth."

Ketchum's Twelve Days in August, a novel for older teens, tells the story of prejudice against homosexuals on a high school soccer team in Vermont. Alex Beekman is the new kid in town, and when he shows up at soccer practice one day, he upsets the long-standing rivalry between the team's two former best players, Todd and Randy. When Randy's badgering remarks about Alex's supposed homosexuality go unchecked by the coach, encouraging the rest of the team to join in, Alex eventually quits, putting Todd, who is interested in Alex's twin sister, in an uncomfortable position. But when Todd's uncle shares his own painful stories of being teased about his homosexuality, Todd finds the courage to stand up to Randy and the rest of the team. Gerry Larson, reviewing Twelve Days in August for School Library Journal, remarked, "The game of soccer … is a dynamic metaphor for Todd's emotional and intellectual growth." Booklist contributor Susan DeRonne also appreciated the book's sports element, "especially when the dynamics of interpersonal relationships cause the team to falter."

Blue Coyote, a sequel to Twelve Days in August, finds Alex still being taunted and abused and still in denial about his own gayness. More than anything, he longs for his best friend, Tito Perone, a boy he had known in Los Angeles before moving to Vermont. When Alex visits L.A., he discovers that Tito has left home, and his family will not say why. It turns out that Tito came out to his parents, and his father has thrown him out after a brutal beating. Eventually, Alex finds Tito and begins to come to terms with his own sexual orientation. Booklist reviewer Hazel Rochman found the plot "heavy-handed and predictable" but noted that "individual scenes are dramatic" and felt that for a teen struggling with coming out "this could be a great help in recognizing the secrets and lies he lives with."

Ketchum has also written a number of books for children and preteens. Good-bye, Sammy, a picture book, tells of a young boy's sadness when a beloved stuffed bunny disappears, and his gradual acceptance of a new bunny from his patient, loving parents. For School Library Journal reviewer Phyllis G. Sidorsky, the result is "a reassuring book that speaks to children's concerns." Written for somewhat older kids, Dancing on the Table tells the story of an eight-year-old girl named Jenny who is upset that her grandmother is planning to remarry and move to New York. She even wishes on her lucky rabbit's foot that the wedding will not take place. When her grandmother gets into a car accident on her wedding day, Jenny is overcome by guilt until her grandmother explains to her that rabbit's feet cannot really grant wishes and that her new husband can never replace Jenny in her heart. While commending Ketchum for dealing with the unusual subject of grandparents' remarriages, School Library Journal reviewer Nancy Reeder found that "Jenny and her grandmother are the only characters of the many in the book that have any substance."

The Ghost of Lost Island, written for preteens, also concerns a child's relationship with a grandparent. Sixth-grader Gabe is determined to prove himself in his grandfather's eyes when the two go on an excursion to Lost Island to shear a flock of sheep that run free all year. On their first night, Gabe's grandfather tells him of the lost milkmaid who tried to cross the breakwater at high tide and was never seen again, adding that her ghost is said to haunt the island still. When Gabe and his sister Eliza, who arrives the next day, discover a mysterious woman living on the island, the stage is set for an adventure story, including a daring escape from the island by moonlight. Bruce Anne Shook, writing in the School Library Journal, suggested, "Readers will relate to Gabe, a likable youngster with a weak self-image who proves himself courageous when the need arises."

With Orphan Journey Home Ketchum takes a turn into history, telling the story of a young pioneer family that meets tragedy on their long trek westward. When twelve-year-old Jesse's parents both succumb to "milk sickness," she and her older brother Moses must lead two younger siblings on the treacherous journey back to Kentucky, all the time avoiding the common fate of orphans in the Old West: being "bound out" as indentured servants. Based on an actual incident, the book tells the unfamiliar story of the many pioneers who did not make it. "Students will be interested in her facts about her sources and how she used them, but her research doesn't swamp the plot," noted Hazel Rochman in a Booklist review. School Library Journal reviewer Catherine Quattlebaum explained that the author "depicts an America that was often unremittingly cruel through the narrative voice of a quick-witted, resourceful young girl."

Ketchum's interest in the Old West also appears in a couple of nonfiction books. The Gold Rush, which is a companion book to Ken Burns's PBS series "The West," draws together numerous first-person accounts of this dramatic incident from both longtime California residents and the many new arrivals, including Native Americans, Hispanics, Chinese, and African Americans, and the often-overlooked women miners and entrepreneurs. "Particularly poignant are selections from the diaries of women who describe unfathomable privation," noted Book Report contributor Karen Sebesta. Ketchum also draws on diaries and letters for Into a New Country: Eight Remarkable Women of the West. Again, she provides a look at a diverse cast of characters, including two Omaha Indian sisters who fought for their rights, a Chinese immigrant who fought school segregation, and Biddy Mason, a former slave who became one of the first black women to own land in California. Booklist's Hazel Rochman suggested that "readers will wonder why they didn't know about these amazing people before."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

books

Murrow, Liza Ketchum, West against the Wind, Holiday House, 1987.

periodicals

Booklist, April 15, 1992, Chris Sherman, review of Allergic to My Family, p. 1529; March 1, 1993, Susan DeRonne, review of Twelve Days in August, p. 1223; August, 1996, Hazel Rochman, review of The Gold Rush, p. 1897; June 1, 1997, Hazel Rochman, review of Blue Coyote, p. 1685; June 1, 2000, Hazel Rochman, review of Orphan Journey Home, p. 1894; January 1, 2001, Hazel Rochman, review of Into a New Country: Eight Remarkable Women of the West, p. 935.

Book Report, May-June, 1997, Karen Sebesta, review of The Gold Rush; September-October, 1997, Sherry York, review of Blue Coyote.

Buffalo News, March 19, 2001, Jean Westmoore, review of Into a New Country, p. D1.

Children's Book Review Service, June, 1989, Ann Kalkhoff, review of Fire in the Heart.

Publishers Weekly, March 8, 1991, review of The Ghost of Lost Island, p. 74; March 16, 1992, review of Allergic to My Family, p. 74.

School Library Journal, December, 1987, George Gleason, review of West against the Wind; July, 1989, Phyllis Sidorsky, review of Good-bye, Sammy, p. 73; June, 1990, Nancy Reeder, review of Dancing on the Table; May, 1991, Bruce Anne Shook, review of The Ghost of Lost Island, p. 94; July, 1992, Alexandra Marris, review of Allergic to My Family, p. 74; March, 1993, Gerry Larson, review of Twelve Days in August, p. 222; October, 1996, George Gleason, review of The Gold Rush, p. 154; August, 2000, Catherine Quattlebaum, review of Orphan Journey Home, p. 182; December, 2000, Carol Fazioli, review of Into a New Country, p. 162.*