O'Connor, Barbara 1950–

views updated Jun 11 2018

O'Connor, Barbara 1950–

Personal

Born November 9, 1950, in Greenville, SC; daughter of William (a food broker) and Harriet (a homemaker) Lawrence; married William O'Connor (a risk manager), 1984; children: Grady. Education: University of South Carolina, B.A., 1972.

Addresses

Home—Duxbury, MA. Agent—Barbara Markowitz, P.O. Box 41709, Los Angeles, CA 90041-0709. E-mail—[email protected].

Career

Children's book author.

Member

Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

Awards, Honors

Best books citation, Family Fun magazine, 1997, summer reading showcase citation, Children's Book Council, and Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults citation, American Library Association (ALA), 2003, all for Beethoven in Paradise; Best Books citation, Bank Street College School of Education, 1999, Dolly Gray Book Award, 2000, and Notable Book citation, ALA, 2000, all for Me and Rupert Goody; Gold Award, Parents' Choice, Best Books citation, Bank Street College School of Education, and Best Children's Book citation, Child magazine, all 2001, and Cream of the Crop designation, Maine Regional Library System, and Massachusetts Book Award, both 2002, all for Moonpie and Ivy; Gold Award, Parents' Choice, and Best of the Best citation, Chicago Public Library, both 2003, both for Fame and Glory in Freedom, Georgia; Recommended Award, Parent's Choice, for Taking Care of Moses and How to Steal a Dog; Silver Award, Parent's Choice, for Greetings from Nowhere.

Writings

FICTION

Beethoven in Paradise, Frances Foster Books (New York, NY), 1997.

Me and Rupert Goody, Frances Foster Books (New York, NY), 1999.

Moonpie and Ivy, Frances Foster Books (New York, NY), 2001.

Fame and Glory in Freedom, Georgia, Frances Foster Books (New York, NY), 2003.

Taking Care of Moses, Frances Foster Books (New York, NY), 2004.

How to Steal a Dog, Frances Foster Books (New York, NY), 2007.

Greetings from Nowhere, Frances Foster Books (New York, NY), 2008.

The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (New York, NY), 2009.

NONFICTION

Mammolina: A Story about Maria Montessori, illustrated by Sara Campitelli, foreword by Margot Waltuch, Carolrhoda Books (Minneapolis, MN), 1993.

Barefoot Dancer: The Story of Isadora Duncan, Carolrhoda Books (Minneapolis, MN), 1994.

The Soldier's Voice: The Story of Ernie Pyle, Carolrhoda Books (Minneapolis, MN), 1996.

The World at His Fingertips: A Story about Louis Braille, illustrated by Rochelle Draper, Carolrhoda Books (Minneapolis, MN), 1997.

Katherine Dunham: Pioneer of Black Dance, Carolrhoda Books (Minneapolis, MN), 2000.

Leonardo da Vinci: Renaissance Genius, Carolrhoda Books (Minneapolis, MN), 2003.

Sidelights

Books by middle-grades author Barbara O'Connor fall into two categories: novels that are frequently set in small towns in the author's native South, and biographies of famous figures such as dancers Isadora Duncan and Katherine Dunham, journalist Ernie Pyle, and painter and inventor Leonardo da Vinci. "I enjoy writing biographies because I like reading about people's lives and I like to research (I really do!)—and I like turning facts about a life into a story about a life," O'Connor wrote on her home page. "I love writing novels because I can let my imagination run wild."

Critics have noted that O'Connor's enjoyment of and commitment to doing research is evident in each of her biographies. Reviewing her book Leonardo da Vinci: Renaissance Genius for School Library Journal, Kristen Oravec praised O'Connor's "outstanding writing" and noted that her "thorough research is evident in both the text and the several appendices." In Booklist Carolyn Phelan praised another biography by O'Connor, Katherine Dunham: Pioneer of Black Dance, as "solid," while School Library Journal contributor Janet Woodward deemed the same volume "accessible" to its intended readership.

O'Connor's novel Beethoven in Paradise is set in the Paradise Trailer Park in South Carolina, where twelve-year-old Martin Pittman lives with his emotionally abusive father. Martin's father thinks that the boy is a "sissy britches" because Martin prefers music to more macho activities like baseball. "All my life I ain't never had nothing but disappointments," Martin's father tells his son, "and you're just the icing on the cake." However, Martin's chain-smoking grandmother Hazeline, his lonely neighbor, Wylene, and the new girl at school, Sybil, all support the boy's desire to be a musician. Wylene helps him to get a violin which, in what Booklist critic Hazel Rochman called a "dramatic resolution," Martin's father smashes. Martin, however, refuses to be cowed, and with the help of his friends he gets a second, less-breakable instrument: a saxophone. Critics noted the particularly Southern feel of the book; "the power of this novel is in the hard-scrabble portrait of the people and the place," Rochman declared, while a Publishers Weekly reviewer noted that O'Connor "has an instinctive feel for the local speech and its rhythms."

Me and Rupert Goody also features a protagonist who does not quite fit in with her relatives. Jennalee Helton's immediate family is large and disorganized, so much so that there are not enough beds to go around. The girl prefers to spend her time with a neighbor, Uncle Beau—no actual relation—who lets her help out in his general store and pays her in candy bars. When a mentally challenged young African-American man named Rupert Goody arrives in town and claims to be Uncle Beau's long-lost son, Jennalee is afraid the newcomer will replace her in Uncle Beau's heart. Meanwhile, the townsfolk also have a hard time accepting Rupert, since Uncle Beau is white, and eventually a growing tide of racism provokes Jennalee into defending the young man. "How this stubborn but winning protagonist travels from complete resentment to acceptance of her rival for Uncle Beau's affections is a journey readers won't want to miss," concluded a Publishers Weekly contributor. Calling Me and Rupert Goody a "gutsy, heartwarming novel," Shelley Townsend-Hudson added in Booklist that O'Connor's novel "ultimately shows the capacity for love in the human heart."

Pearl, the protagonist of Moonpie and Ivy, is also searching for stability and love. Pearl's biological mother, Ruby, dumps the girl with her Aunt Ivy in rural Georgia, because she claims to need time off from being a mother. Now Pearl and Ivy struggle with their relationship, both knowing that Ruby will eventually come to reclaim her daughter. At first Pearl rebuffs Aunt Ivy's friendly overtures, not wanting to get attached, but when she finally overcomes her fear it is her aunt who pulls back. Ivy's unwillingness to take Pearl completely into her heart is made even harder on the girl when another child, the abandoned Moon, is about to be taken in by Aunt Ivy and her new husband.

Reviewing Moonpie and Ivy, critics again praised the novel's realistic evocation of the South. "O'Connor's gritty descriptions of the characters and scenery," wrote a Horn Book contributor, "vividly evoke the environment as Pearl experiences it," while Katie O'Dell noted in School Library Journal that "the rural Georgia setting is fully realized through gentle and descriptive prose." "There is no happy ending and no message," Rochman added in her Booklist review, "just the heartrending drama of Pearl's struggle to change and her search for home."

"Readers dealing with acceptance issues will find solace in" Fame and Glory in Freedom, Georgia, maintained School Library Journal contributor Jean Gaffney. Burdette "Bird" Weaver, the protagonist of O'Connor's novel, is a sixth grader with two dreams in life: to experience "just one short day of fame and glory" in the small town where she is generally ignored, and to go to Disney World. A school spelling bee offers Bird both, if she can win. The spelling bee is a team event, and Bird, encouraged by her neighbor Miss Delphine, decides to partner with another social outcast, a new boy in town named Harlem Tate. Harlem is an incredible speller, but he inexplicably runs off of the stage in the middle of the contest. Again following Miss Delphine's encouragement, Bird decides not to dismiss her new friend and tries to get him to tell her what happened. She eventually learns that Harlem has poor eyesight and could not read the writing on the chalkboard at the event. Bird's role as narrator was praised by several critics; her "original voice has charm, grit, and spunkiness," commented a Kirkus Reviews contributor, while the girl's "conversations with empathetic Miss Delphine" were viewed by a Publishers Weekly critic as effective in revealing "Bird's humor and [the] big heart beneath her rough edges."

O'Connor once again deals with racial issues in Taking Care of Moses. After a newborn African-American baby is left on the doorsteps of a Baptist church in rural South Carolina, two women in the community struggle over who should have custody of the child. One of the women, the white, childless wife of the church's minister, wants to keep the child as her own, while the other woman, a black foster parent, believes the child should remain with a family of his own race. Only eleven-year-old Randall knows the identity of the abandoned child's mother, but revealing his secret would cause much hardship among members of his community. As townspeople argue over the baby named Moses, Randall must struggle to reach the right decision about his important knowledge. Several reviewers applauded the author's ability to create believable characters and realistic dialogue in Taking Care of Moses. Booklist critic Carolyn Phelan suggested that O'Connor not only creates "characters whose idiosyncrasies make them believable," but also develops "memorable, convincing portrayals of interracial friendships and spats." The author also earned praise for her ability to create an engaging story, Horn Book contributor Christine M. Hepperman writing that "particularly satisfying is how the narrative resolutely avoids easy answers." In Kirkus Reviews a critic dubbed Taking Care of Moses "a well-developed, intriguing short novel with a suspenseful clue-filled story line."

In How to Steal a Dog "O'Connor once again smoothly balances challenging themes with her heroine's strength and sense of humor," declared a reviewer in Publishers Weekly. After her father abandons the family, Georgina Hayes finds herself living with her mother and younger brother in the family car, evicted from their apartment. As her mother works two jobs to earn enough money to find another place to live, Georgina becomes inspired by a poster offering a reward for a lost dog. The young girl carefully formulates a plan to kidnap the pet of a seemingly wealthy woman, hoping to earn a generous reward when she returns the dog. The scheme begins to unravel, however, as a sensitive homeless man influences Georgina to reconsider her actions. Writing in School Library Journal, Robyn Gioia suggested that O'Connor's "gentle storytelling carries a theme of love and emphasizes what is really right in the world." Horn Book critic Kitty Flynn also commented favorably on the author's narrative skills, writing that she "knows how to spin a touching story."

The stories of four different families combine in Greetings from Nowhere, another novel for teens. Upon the death of her husband, Aggie Duncan decides to sell the motel she and her late husband owned in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. Coming to purchase the hotel is Clyde Dover, a man whose wife has recently left him and their daughter, Willow. Two other individuals staying as guests at the hotel—an older boy on his way to military school and an adopted girl searching for more information about her recently deceased biological mother—round out O'Connor's collection of characters as they interact with each other in life-changing ways. "Fans of O'Connor's many award-winning books … will find Greetings from Nowhere endearing, poignant, and even funny," predicted Christian Science Monitor contributor Augusta Scattergood. Writing in School Library Journal, Kim Dare concluded that "O'Connor's knack for well-developed characters and feisty protagonists is evident" in Greetings from Nowhere, "as is her signature Southern charm."

O'Connor once told SATA: "I love young people and I love writing, so it was only natural that I combined the two. I set my fiction in the South because I consider the South my ‘heart's home.’ I grew up there, so I know the details that make a story rich in character and setting.

"I often find myself drawn to the troubled child, the outcast child, the spunky misfit. Those are the kids who find their way into my stories.

"I don't write to teach a lesson. I write to take kids to new places, to introduce them to new characters, to show them the potential of the human heart—and sometimes to take them to a familiar and safe place.

"My advice to aspiring writers?

"1. Read.

"2. Never be afraid to write something that's not very good. You can always make it better.

"3. Make friends with a librarian."

Biographical and Critical Sources

BOOKS

O'Connor, Barbara, Beethoven in Paradise, Frances Foster Books (New York, NY), 1997.

O'Connor, Barbara, Moonpie and Ivy, Frances Foster Books (New York, NY), 2001.

O'Connor, Barbara, Fame and Glory in Freedom, Georgia, Frances Foster Books (New York, NY), 2003.

PERIODICALS

Book, July, 2001, Kathleen Odean, review of Moonpie and Ivy, p. 81.

Booklist, April 1, 1993, Kay Weisman, review of Mammolina: A Story about Maria Montessori, p. 1426; July, 1994, Mary Harris Veeder, review of Barefoot Dancer: The Story of Isadora Duncan, p. 1941; September 1, 1996, Denia Hester, review of The Soldier's Voice: The Story of Ernie Pyle, p. 123; April 15, 1997, Hazel Rochman, review of Beethoven in Paradise, p. 1430; November 1, 1999, Shelley Townsend-Hudson, re- view of Me and Rupert Goody, p. 530; May 15, 2000, Carolyn Phelan, review of Katherine Dunham: Pioneer of Black Dance, p. 1740; May 1, 2001, Hazel Rochman, review of Moonpie and Ivy, p. 1682; July, 2003, Carolyn Phelan, review of Fame and Glory in Freedom, Georgia, p. 1887; August, 2004, Carolyn Phelan, review of Taking Care of Moses, p. 1936; March 15, 2007, Stephanie Zvirin, review of How to Steal a Dog, p. 49; January 1, 2008, Carolyn Phelan, review of Greetings from Nowhere, p. 80.

Book Report, November-December, 1997, Esther Sinofsky, review of Beethoven in Paradise, p. 40.

Christian Science Monitor, March 18, 2008, Augusta Scattergood, "Greetings from Nowhere Speaks to Young Readers," p. 15.

Horn Book, September, 1999, review of Me and Rupert Goody, p. 615; May, 2001, review of Moonpie and Ivy, p. 333; July-August, 2003, Kitty Flynn, review of Fame and Glory in Freedom, Georgia, p. 465; November-December, 2004, Christine M. Hepperman, review of Taking Care of Moses, p. 715; May-June, 2007, Kitty Flynn, review of How to Steal a Dog, p. 286.

Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 2003, review of Fame and Glory in Freedom, Georgia, p. 681; October 1, 2004, review of Taking Care of Moses, p. 966; March 15, 2007, review of How to Steal a Dog; February 1, 2008, review of Greetings from Nowhere.

Kliatt, May, 2004, Claire Rosser, review of Moonpie and Ivy, p. 22.

Language Arts, November, 2002, Junko Yokota and Mingshui Cai, review of Moonpie and Ivy, p. 150.

Publishers Weekly, March 3, 1997, review of Beethoven in Paradise, p. 76; September 27, 1999, review of Beethoven in Paradise, p. 107; December 13, 1999, review of Me and Rupert Goody, p. 84; January 22, 2001, review of Moonpie and Ivy, p. 325; May 12, 2003, review of Fame and Glory in Freedom, Georgia, p. 67; April 2, 2007, review of How to Steal a Dog, p. 57.

School Library Journal, April, 1993, Christine A. Moesch, review of Mammolina, p. 137; August, 1996, L.R. Little, review of The Soldier's Voice, p. 158; April, 1997, Lauralyn Persson, review of Beethoven in Paradise, p. 140; October, 1997, Jane Claes, review of The World at His Fingertips: A Story about Louis Braille, p. 121; October, 1999, Renee Steinberg, review of Me and Rupert Goody, p. 156; July, 2000, Janet Woodward, review of Katherine Dunham, p. 120; May, 2001, Katie O'Dell, review of Moonpie and Ivy, p. 157; November, 2002, Kristen Oravec, review of Leonardo da Vinci: Renaissance Genius, p. 190; June, 2003, Jean Gaffney, review of Fame and Glory in Freedom, Georgia, p. 148; October, 2004, Lauralyn Persson, review of Taking Care of Moses, p. 173; May, 2007, Robyn Gioia, review of How to Steal a Dog, p. 140; March, 2008, Kim Dare, review of Greetings from Nowhere, p. 208.

ONLINE

Barbara O'Connor Home Page,http://www.barboconnor.com (September 15, 2008).

Something About the Author

O'Connor, Barbara 1950–

views updated May 21 2018

O'Connor, Barbara 1950–

PERSONAL:

Born November 9, 1950, in Greenville, SC; daughter of William (a food broker) and Harriet (a homemaker) Lawrence; married William O'Connor (a risk manager), 1984; children: Grady. Education: University of South Carolina, B.A., 1972.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Duxbury, MA. Agent—Barbara Markowitz, P.O. Box 41709, Los Angeles, CA 90041-0709. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Children's book author.

MEMBER:

Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Best books citation, Family Fun magazine, 1997, summer reading showcase citation, Children's Book Council, and Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults citation, American Library Association (ALA), 2003, all for Beethoven in Paradise; Best Books citation, Bank Street College School of Education, 1999, Dolly Gray Book Award, 2000, and Notable Book citation, ALA, 2000, all for Me and Rupert Goody; Gold Award, Parents' Choice, Best Books citation, Bank Street College School of Education, and Best Children's Book citation, Child magazine, all 2001, and Cream of the Crop designation, Maine Regional Library System, and Massachusetts Book Award, both 2002, all for Moonpie and Ivy; Gold Award, Parents' Choice, and Best of the Best citation, Chicago Public Library, both 2003, both for Fame and Glory in Freedom, Georgia; Recommended Award, Parent's Choice, for Taking Care of Moses and How to Steal a Dog; Silver Award, Parent's Choice, for Greetings from Nowhere.

WRITINGS: