Skurzynski, Gloria 1930–

views updated

Skurzynski, Gloria 1930–

(Gloria Joan Skurzynski)

PERSONAL: Surname pronounced "skur-zin-ski"; born July 6, 1930, in Duquesne, PA; daughter of Aylmer Kearney (a steelworker) and Serena (a telegraph operator) Flister; married Edward Joseph Skurzynski (an aerospace engineer), December 1, 1951; children: Serena Rose, Janine, Joan, Alane, Lauren. Education: Attended Mount Mercy College (now Carlow College), 1948–50. Hobbies and other interests: Science, technology.

ADDRESSES: Home and office—Boise, ID; fax: 208-853-1529. Agent—Edite Kroll Literary Agency, 20 Cross St., Saco, ME 04072. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Writer. U.S. Steel Corp., statistical clerk, 1950–52.

MEMBER: International Women's Forum, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Utah Women's Forum.

AWARDS, HONORS: Golden Kite Honor Book Award for nonfiction, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, 1978, for Bionic Parts for People: The Real Story of Artificial Organs and Replacement Parts; Horn Book Honor Book, and Booklist Reviewer's Choice Award, both 1979, and Christopher Award, 1980, all for What Happened in Hamelin; Best Books for Young Adults Award, American Library Association (ALA), and Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies, National Council for the Social Studies and the Children's Book Council, both 1981, and Booklist Reviewer's Choice Award, 1982, all for Manwolf; Golden Kite Award for fiction, School Library Journal Best Books of 1983 Award, and Best Books for Young Adults Award, ALA, all 1983, all for The Tempering; Utah Children's Choice Book Award, 1984, for Lost in the Devil's Desert; Golden Spur Award, Western Writers of America, 1985, for Trapped in the Slickrock Canyon; Science Writing Award, American Institute of Physics, 1992, for Almost the Real Thing: Simulation in Your High-Tech World; School Library Journal Best Books of 1992 Award, for Good-bye, Billy Radish; Best Books for Young Adults, ALA, 1998, for Virtual War, 2000, for Spider's Voice; Spur Award for best Western juvenile fiction, Western Writers of America award, both for Rockbuster, 2002; Indiana Young Hoosier Award, for Cliff-Hanger, 2002; International Reading Association Young Adults' Choice Award, for Are We Alone: Scientists Search for Life in Space, 2006; Junior Library Guild Premier Selection Award for The Choice, 2006.

WRITINGS:

The Magic Pumpkin, illustrated by Rocco Negri, Four Winds (New York, NY), 1971.

The Remarkable Journey of Gustavus Bell, illustrated by Tim and Greg Hildebrandt, Abingdon (Nashville, TN), 1973.

The Poltergeist of Jason Morey, Dodd (New York, NY), 1975.

In a Bottle with a Cork on Top, illustrated by Glo Coalson, Dodd (New York, NY), 1976.

(Adapter) Two Fools and a Faker: Three Lebanese Folk Tales, illustrated by William Papas, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1977.

Martin by Himself, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger, Houghton, 1979.

What Happened in Hamelin (novel), Four Winds (New York, NY), 1979.

Honest Andrew, illustrated by David Wiesner, Harcourt (New York, NY), 1980.

Manwolf, Clarion (New York, NY), 1981.

The Tempering (novel), Clarion (New York, NY), 1983.

The Minstrel in the Tower, illustrated by Julek Heller, Random House (New York, NY), 1988.

Dangerous Ground, Bradbury (New York, NY), 1989.

Good-bye, Billy Radish (novel), Bradbury (New York, NY), 1992.

Here Comes the Mail, Bradbury (New York, NY), 1992.

Caitlin's Big Idea, illustrated by Cathy Diefendorf, Troll (Mahwah, NJ), 1995.

Cyberstorm, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1995.

Spider's Voice, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1999.

Rockbuster, Atheneum (New York, NY), 2001.

"MOUNTAIN WEST ADVENTURE" SERIES

Lost in the Devil's Desert, illustrated by Joseph M. Scrofani, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1982.

Trapped in the Slickrock Canyon, illustrated by Daniel San Souci, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1984.

Caught in the Moving Mountains, illustrated by Ellen Thompson, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1984.

Swept in the Wave of Terror, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1985.

"YOUR HIGH-TECH WORLD" SERIES

Robots: Your High-Tech World, Bradbury (New York, NY), 1990.

Almost the Real Thing: Simulation in Your High-Tech World, Bradbury (New York, NY), 1991.

Get the Message: Telecommunications in Your High-Tech World, Bradbury (New York, NY), 1993.

Know the Score: Video Games in Your High-Tech World, Bradbury (New York, NY), 1994.

"VIRTUAL WAR CHRONOLOGS" SERIES

Virtual War, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1997.

The Clones, Atheneum (New York, NY), 2002.

The Revolt, Atheneum (New York, NY), 2005.

The Choice, Atheneum (New York, NY), 2006.

"NATIONAL PARKS MYSTERY" SERIES; WITH ALANE FERGUSON

Mystery of the Spooky Shadow, illustrated by Jeffrey Lindberg, Troll (New York, NY), 1996.

The Mystery of the Vanishing Creatures, illustrated by Jeffrey Lindberg, Troll (New York, NY), 1996.

The Mystery of the Haunted Silver Mine, illustrated by Jeffrey Lindberg, Troll (New York, NY), 1997.

The Mystery of the Fire in the Sky, illustrated by Jeffrey Lindberg, Troll (New York, NY), 1997.

Wolf Stalker, National Geographic Society (Washington, DC), 1997.

Rage of Fire, National Geographic Society (Washington, DC), 1998.

Cliff Hanger, National Geographic Society (Washington, DC), 1999.

Deadly Water, National Geographic Society (Washington, DC), 1999.

The Hunted, National Geographic Society (Washington, DC), 2000.

Ghost Horses, National Geographic Society (Washington, DC), 2000.

Over the Edge, National Geographic Society (Washington, DC), 2002.

Valley of Death, National Geographic Society (Washington, DC), 2002.

Escape from Fear, National Geographic Society (Washington, DC), 2002.

Out of the Deep, National Geographic Society (Washington, DC), 2002.

Running Scared, National Geographic Society (Washington, DC), 2002.

Buried Alive, National Geographic Society (Washington, DC), 2003.

Night of the Black Bear, National Geographic Society (Washington, DC), 2007.

NONFICTION

Bionic Parts for People: The Real Story of Artificial Organs and Replacement Parts, illustrated by Frank Schwartz, Four Winds (New York, NY), 1978.

Safeguarding the Land: Women at Work in Parks, Forests, and Rangelands, foreword by Cecil D. Andrus, Harcourt (New York, NY), 1981.

Zero Gravity, Bradbury (New York, NY), 1994.

Waves: The Electromagnetic Universe, National Geographic Society (Washington, DC), 1996.

Discover Mars, National Geographic Society (Washington, DC), 1998.

On Time: From Seasons to Split Seconds, National Geographic Society (Washington, DC), 2000.

Are We Alone? Scientists Search For Life in Space, National Geographic Society (Washington, DC), 2004.

OTHER

Contributor to Three Folktales, Houghton, 1981. Contributor of articles and short stories to periodicals, including Teen and School Library Journal.

ADAPTATIONS: What Happened in Hamelin was adapted for film and telecast by the Columbia Broadcasting System on "Storybreak" in 1987.

SIDELIGHTS: "Perhaps if I'd known how long it would take me to acquire satisfactory writing skills," wrote author Gloria Skurzynski in the Fifth Book of Junior Authors and Illustrators, "I would have been too intimidated to try. But with the innocence of ignorance, I began putting words on paper." Skurzynski, who had been a busy wife and mother, started writing children's books after the last of her five daughters began school, a time when she realized she would need something other than bringing up her children to fill her life. She was also encouraged by the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Phyllis McGinley, whose verse Skurzynski had read after seeing McGinley on the cover of Time. When Skurzynski posted a fan letter, McGinley replied, and a correspondence began which lasted until the poet died in 1978. Reacting to Skurzynski's observation-filled letters, McGinley told her that she had talent and should consider writing professionally. Now, Skurzynski is the author of dozens of popular and acclaimed books for children and young adults.

The difficulties Skurzynski had in making her first sale—which did not occur until her fifty-eighth submission—did not disappear once she became a published writer. She struggled, but managed to have several picture books published. She enjoyed writing children's novels more, however, and her interest in history made her lean naturally toward historical fiction. Just as being a mother had absorbed all of Skurzynski's time, now writing was her passion. In the Fifth Book of Junior Authors and Illustrators, Skurzynski wrote: "While I write a novel, I'm only half aware of what's happening in my family, my house, and the world." Her ability to immerse herself in her created worlds began to pay off: she received a Christopher Award for her historical novel What Happened in Hamelin. Skurzynski's retelling of the Pied Piper story is based on actual documents from the town of Hamelin, Germany, which indicate that, in 1284, a relative stranger led 130 children from the town into the surrounding mountains. Neither the Piper nor the children ever returned. Skurzynski's narrator, Geist, is a thirteen-year-old orphan who works in a bakery and is despondent because of the baker's harshness toward him and the drudgery of his medieval life. He becomes excited, though, when the Piper comes to town and promises to rid it of the rats that trouble the inhabitants. When he successfully does so (manipu-lating the children to do his work for him) and is then cheated out of his payment, he stays in Hamelin as a musician, loved by the children both for his music and the sweets he gives them. What no one suspects is that the sweets contain a drug that gives the children hallucinations, enabling the Piper to ensnare them with his piping and lead them away from their home into slavery. A Horn Book contributor wrote that "the pompous councilman, the simple-minded priest, and the children are realistically and convincingly depicted," and a contributor to the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books stated that the story "builds nicely toward the tense final tragedy." In the New York Times Book Review, Natalie Babbitt noted that "the reader is left with a strong, lingering awareness of mankind's ever-present corruptibility."

Skurzynski's 1999 book Spider's Voice is also set in medieval Europe. The work is a retelling of a classic doomed romance tale from twelfth-century Paris, the story of Heloise and Abelard. Skurzynski's heroine is renamed Eloise, and she recounts her story through the narrative voice of a mute shepherd boy. Eloise is a brilliant and spirited girl raised by her ambitious but untrustworthy uncle, while Abelard is a respected theologian. The two fall in love, and after Abelard rescues the boy Aran from a brutish circus master, he realizes that the mute Aran is the ideal servant, because the affair with Eloise must be kept secret at all costs. They begin to call him Spider, and he becomes devoted to the pair. Then Eloise becomes pregnant, and her uncle forces them into a marriage, which they then agree to keep secret in order to protect Abelard's career; the uncle becomes enraged and viciously maims Abelard in front of Spider—"but that trauma leads him to find, eventually, a voice of his own," noted a Kirkus Reviews contributor, who described it as a "spirited retelling." Booklist critic Ilene Cooper also praised the tale: "Throughout, Skurzynski's writing is vivid and intriguing." Barbara Scotto, writing in School Library Journal, described Skurzynski as "masterful in her characterizations, showing the subtleties of each person's nature and the ways in which they are changed from the circumstances of their lives."

History more recent than that of thirteenth-century Europe fills Skurzynski's 1983 novel, The Tempering, which is concerned with her father's past. Luckily, Skurzynski was able to read sections of the book to her father just before he passed away in 1982. Canaan, a fictionalized version of Duquesne, serves as the setting for The Tempering, the story of a fifteen-year-old boy living in 1912 Pennsylvania. Karl Kerner is eager to quit school so he can work in the steel mill, even though his teacher, Yulyona, encourages him to continue attending class. Because Karl is in love with Yulyona, he considers taking her advice, but ultimately goes to work in the mill only to lose his job on his first day when another man pulls a stunt and gets both himself and Karl fired. The metaphor that gives the novel its title compares the process of tempering steel, during which it is melted and formed into shape, with Karl's development into a man throughout the pages of the book. Outside of Karl's struggles, Skurzynski evokes the atmosphere of an early twentieth-century mill town. According to a Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books contributor, Skurzynski paints "a vivid picture of the way in which poverty and life-style are shaped by the environment." In the New York Times Book Review, Martha Bennett Stiles praised The Tempering for its "satisfying portrayals of love, friendship and neighborly decency."

Skurzynski's multiethnic hometown also served as an inspiration for the setting of her novel Good-bye, Billy Radish, which tells the story of Hank Kerner and Bazyli Radichevych, a Ukrainian boy whom Hank calls "Billy Radish." Billy, much like Karl in The Tempering, looks forward to his fourteenth birthday, when he can go to work in the steel mill. The coming-of-age story shows how the two boys, despite their different backgrounds and languages, create a friendship that overcomes those superficial boundaries. School Library Journal contributor Marcia Hupp called Good-bye, Billy Radish a "richly textured, lovingly crafted historical novel."

The harsh world of coal miners is explored in the more recent historical novel Rockbuster. Here, Skurzynski tells the story of Tommy Quinlan, who finds himself working in the coal mines to support his mother and himself after his father and uncle are killed. Tommy learns to play the guitar in his free time and begins a romance with the daughter of the mine's owner. However, conflicts soon arise when Tommy is asked to sing protest songs for miner's rights. "This finely crafted and richly detailed coming-of-age story is … both distinctive and universal," wrote Heather Dieffenbach in the School Library Journal. Booklist contributor Roger Leslie appreciated that the "characters are vibrant, their story is memorable."

Aside from crafting successful and acclaimed fiction, Skurzynski has also written several nonfiction books. Bionic Parts for People: The Real Story of Artificial Organs and Replacement Parts, which received a Golden Kite Honor Book Award, was inspired by family members in the same way some of her fiction has been. This time, two of Skurzynski's daughters served as her motivation: one had worked for the Division of Artificial Organs at the University of Utah, and another had studied in a building in which organ research was conducted. Bionic Parts examines the medical field's attempts to create machinery based on the functioning of normal, healthy body organs that can replace dysfunctional or injured organs. A reviewer for the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books called Bionic Parts "an excellent survey of the subject."

Another of Skurzynski's nonfiction books, Almost the Real Thing: Simulation in Your High-Tech World, the second in a series, details some of the techniques scientists use to simulate real-world situations in order to test ideas or products and improve upon them in the early stages of development. A School Library Journal contributor called Almost the Real Thing "an excellent and lively book on an offbeat topic," and the American Institute of Physics awarded the book its Science Writing Award in 1992.

The more recent nonfiction title Are We Alone? Scientists Search for Life in Space delves into scientific efforts to communicate with any potential beings that might live on other planets. The author discusses issues such as what scientists think may constitute the environment of an inhabitable planet, even though it may be far different from Earth. "No other title on this topic weaves together the work of so many disciplines so seamlessly," according to Ann G. Brouse in the School Library Journal. Danielle J. Ford, writing in Horn Book, noted that the author "cleanly separates what is scientifically possible from what is fantasy regarding life beyond our planet."

Skurzynski's interest in the high-tech world expanded alongside developments in personal computing, virtual gaming, and the Internet. Her 1995 title, Cyberstorm, is set in the year 2015, when the friendship between teens Darcy and Erik comes to an abrupt halt after a betrayal. Darcy's family then moves into a restriction-filled community of new homes, and she is miserable. Only her beloved dog provides companionship, but the local authorities threaten this as well after a neighbor complains about barking. As the Animal Control workers near, Darcy takes refuge in a virtual reality machine belonging to her neighbor, Mrs. Galloway. A series of time-warp moments follow, while an actual tornado outside poses a bigger threat. Marsha Valance, writing in Voice of Youth Advocates, commended Skurzynski for creating "well-developed characters, breakneck pace, and believable computer world [that] combine to make this novel a real winner." Valance compared the writer to acclaimed cyberscience fiction writer William Gibson, while a Publishers Weekly contributor likened Cyberstorm to a 1950 short story from a master in the genre, Ray Bradbury. The reviewer called it an "imaginative science fiction tale [that] never lets up its thrilling pace."

In her 1997 book Virtual War, Skurzynski delves into the world of three-dimensional gaming for her premise—a storyline that many reviewers predicted would resonate well with adolescent readers. Set in the year 2080, Virtual War presents the planet as a place with just two million inhabitants, due to years of environmental and biological disaster. The survivors live in domed cities awaiting news of improved ecological prospects outside. The plot focuses upon fourteen-year-old Corgan, a wholly bioengineered teen designed with reflexes that enable him to win at any electronic game. He is the creation of the Council of the Western Hemisphere Foundation, one of the forces that has agreed to fight a virtual war whose victor will receive a coveted archipelago that is fit for human habitation. Corgan will be the primary warrior, but in the days before the onset, he meets the other members of his team: a teen code-breaker named Sharla and a contemptuous ten-year-old strategist, Brig. For Corgan, this is first contact with actual humans, and soon he begins to question the value system with which he has been indoctrinated, one that teaches winning at all costs. "However bleak, Corgan eventually begins to realize that 'real' life is still desirable over the 'perfect' virtual world," noted Voice of Youth Advocates contributor Linda Roberts, who also found Virtual War "a quick read" and one that "holds the reader's interest to the very last page."

Skurzynski continues the story of Virtual War Chronologs with her novel The Clones. This novel finds Corgan the victor in a simulated battle for the Isles of Hiva. When Sharla arrives at this paradise with two smuggled babies, Corgan becomes attached to the child Seabrig, who is programmed to mature rapidly. His counterpart, Brigand, is raised by Sharla and soon suspected of having bad intentions towards Seabrig. Writing in Booklist, Sally Estes commented: "The clone characters are artfully done." Corgan is on the run with Seabrig to the domed city of Flor-DC in the next book in the "Virtual War Chronologs" series, The Revolt. The two are fleeing from Brigand, who has become a violent, power-hungry madman and has initiated a revolt. In the meantime, a new character, Ananda, joins Corgan in Flor-DC, where she continues her training to replace him as the new Western Hemisphere champion of simulated warfare. In School Library Journal Jessi Platt liked that Corgan's "character development is evident." A Kirkus Reviews contributor praised the way in which the "action piles on at a frenetic pace."

In the late 1990s, Skurzynski began to write a series of whodunits for teens with her daughter Alane Ferguson. Published by the National Geographic Society, these "National Parks" mysteries are set inside various scenic nature and forest preserves belonging the U.S. National Park Service. They feature the Landon family, whose veterinarian mother and photographer father often take work assignments that bring them to one of the National Parks; twelve-year-old Jack and his younger sister, Ashley, come along, often accompanied by one of the foster children that the Landons host from time to time. Wolf Stalker introduces the Landons on their trip to the first National Park ever created, Yellowstone, whose boundaries date back to an 1872 law. Park officials have asked Dr. Landon to investigate a report that a hunting dog was killed by a pack of wolves. With the family is Troy, a troubled youth with a difficult past. The youngsters spend an unplanned night outside in the park, and a power struggle erupts between the trio. They witness the shooting of a wolf and nurse it through the night. In the end, all are rescued, and the poacher is caught. "This exciting book emphasizes the natural beauty and dangers of the wild," commented Marlene Gawron in a School Library Journal review.

In Cliff Hanger, the Landons arrive at Colorado's Mesa Verde preserve. Dr. Landon has been contacted by rangers to look into reports that a cougar in the park is attacking humans. This time, Jack and Ashley are joined by foster sibling Lucky, whose sneaky behavior makes almost all the Landons apprehensive—except for Jack, who has developed a crush on the girl. "The authors do a fine job of integrating lots of material into an exciting story," wrote Cooper in a Booklist review. In the next book, Deadly Water, Skurzynski and Ferguson send the Landons to the Florida Everglades, where several manatees have inexplicably died. Jack and Ashley's foster sibling Bridger comes along as well and learns as much about himself as he does aquatic mammals. "An engaging read, the story features likable protagonists and plenty of action and suspense," wrote Shelle Rosenfeld in Booklist. The author's 2000 book, The Hunted, finds the family at Montana's Glacier National Park to solve the mystery of disappearing grizzly cubs. In Buried Alive Jack and Ashley, along with thirteen-year-old Nicky Milano, who is secretly in the witness protection program, go to Alaska's Denali National Park. Jack and Ashley have no idea of Nicky's secret but soon find out when an assassin shows up to kill him. Yapha Nussbaum Mason, writing in the School Library Journal, averred that the novel "stands alone as a suspenseful survival story."

Skurzynski once commented: "When I work on a book like Good-bye, Billy Radish, I find my way back home to the smoky, sooty, western Pennsylvania town where flames from smokestacks set fire to the night. Today the smoke is gone, and so are the steel mills, but in my own memory, and through the stories my parents told me, I can recreate that time and place. It's important that I do that, because if I don't, no one will remember the rumbles and shrieks of the mills, the smell of the smoke, the blaze of the furnaces, and the enormous power of the steel mills over the townspeople.

"Then, after I've relived that past, I can flash forward. On computer screens, I can enter virtual worlds where I touch things that aren't real, and move around in them, and move them around to wherever I please. In laboratories, designers have shared with me the secrets of their work, giving me breath-stopping previews of the twenty-first century for my books Robots Almost the Real Thing, Get the Message, and Know the Score.

"Caught up in the wonderment of the world to come, and infused with equal wonderment over the world long past, I think how lucky I am to be a writer, to be the channel through which this knowledge flows. As much as I admire the work of scientists and engineers and historians and archaeologists, I think my job is the best. I get to have it all. I only wish I could live forever, so I could see how the future turns out."

Skurzynski later told CA: "When I was twelve years old and sprained my ankle, my mother took me to the doctor's office. During the examination, I announced, 'I want to be a doctor when I grow up.' The doctor laughed at me. I felt rebuffed and embarrassed, as though I'd said something inappropriate, and right then and there I gave up that idea. In my small Western Pennsylvania steel town where all the men worked in the mill and the women stayed home to take care of the house and the kids, there was no one to tell me that women could become doctors, and I didn't have sufficient drive or courage to pursue that career or any other career in the sciences. Now, though, I get to write about some of the most accomplished scientists on the planet.

"Not long after I was laughed at in the doctor's office, I happened to be walking home alone (which all the girls did back then, and no one worried) and I crossed a bridge above a section of the steel mill. Beneath the bridge were railroad tracks with many trains carrying the raw products to make steel: coal, coke, iron ore, limestone. Everything was soot-covered, as it always was in my home town, and the skies were gray with smoke, as they always were in those days. The noise and dirt inspired me to write a poem, my first attempt at composing anything.

"The next day I took the page to school and handed it to my seventh-grade teacher. She was in charge of the junior-high newspaper, a mimeographed couple of pages stapled together (I vividly remember stapling my finger once when I was working on the paper.) I figured she would publish my poem in the school paper, but she looked accusingly at me and said, 'You didn't write this.'

"'Yes I did!' I protested, but she insisted, 'You copied it from somewhere.' She refused to believe me and wouldn't publish it. After this incident, did I believe I wanted to be a writer when I grew up? No. Not because of the doubting teacher, but because I had no career plans other than to get married and have children. That's what all the women did in Duquesne, Pennsylvania at that time. So that's what I did, but I didn't marry a steelworker. I married a rocket scientist, Ed Skurzynski. And later, with a car full of little girls, we drove to Cape Canaveral several times to watch his missiles get launched. And instead of becoming a doctor, I became a writer of picture books, historical fiction, and books about science and technology.

"I meet and interview outstanding scientists who are doing today's most exciting work. That includes the naturalists and animal behaviorists who helped us learn about the endangered species in the National Parks mysteries I write with my daughter Alane Ferguson. Wolves, whales, manatees, condors, and more are researched thoroughly before we write these novels.

"Science fiction also requires meticulous research, with a whole different approach because a concept I believe is science fiction when I begin may have become reality by the time the book is published.

"Among many national awards, all of them listed on my Web site, I've won the American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award. It came with a Windsor chair inscribed on the front with 'American Institute of Physics' and on the back with my name and the title of the book that won. Whenever someone new comes into our living room, they'll ask my husband, 'How did you get the Physics chair?' It never occurs to them that it could be mine. So maybe things haven't changed so much since I was in junior high."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Fifth Book of Junior Authors and Illustrators, Wilson, 1983.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, August, 1997, Susan Dove Lempke, review of Virtual War, p. 1891; February 15, 1999, Ilene Cooper, review of Spider's Voice, p. 1060; April 15, 1999, Ilene Cooper, review of Cliff Hanger, p. 1532; August, 1999, Sally Estes, review of Tomorrowland, p. 2045; October 15, 1999, Shelle Rosenfeld, review of Deadly Water, p. 446; June 1, 2000, Anne O'Malley, review of The Hunted, p. 1898; December 15, 2000, Denise Wilms, review of Ghost Horses, p. 821; December, 1, 2001, Roger Leslie, review of Rockbuster, p. 639; April 15, 2002, Sally Estes, review of The Clones, p. 1417.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, April, 1979, review of Bionic Parts for People: The Real Story of Artificial Organs and Replacement Parts; February, 1980, review of What Happened in Hamelin; June, 1983, review of The Tempering.

Horn Book, February, 1980, review of What Happened in Hamelin; January-February, 1997, Margaret A. Bush, review of The Electromagnetic Universe, p. 80; October, 2005, Danielle J. Ford, review of Are We Alone? Scientists Search for Life in Space, p. 63.

Kirkus Reviews, January 15, 1999, review of Spider's Voice, p. 152; June 15, 2002, review of The Clones, p. 888; June 1, 2005, review of The Revolt, p. 643.

New York Times Book Review, March 30, 1980, Natalie Babbitt, review of What Happened in Hamelin, p. 16; May 22, 1983, Martha Bennett Stiles, review of The Tempering, p. 40.

Publishers Weekly, June 26, 1995, review of Cyberstorm, p. 107; May 19, 1997, review of Virtual War, p. 76; January 18, 1999, review of Spider's Voice, p. 340; June 27, 2005, review of The Revolt, p. 66.

School Library Journal, October, 1991, Alan Newman, review of Almost the Real Thing: Simulation in Your High-Tech World, p. 141; December, 1992, Marcia Hupp, review of Good-bye, Billy Radish, p. 114; January, 1998, Marlene Gawron, review of Wolf Stalker, p. 114; May, 1998, Bonnie Kunzel, review of Cyberstorm, p. 51; November, 1998, John Peters, review of Discover Mars, p. 143; March, 1999, Barbara Scotto, review of Spider's Voice, p. 215; May, 1999, Eldon Younce, review of Cliff Hanger, p. 130; August, 2000, Janet Gillen, review of The Hunted, p. 190; November, 2000, Ann Cook, review of Ghost Horses; December, 2001, Heather Dieffenbach, review of Rockbuster, p. 146; October, 2002, Susan L. Rogers, review of The Clone, p. 170; December, 2003, Yapha Nussbaum Mason, review of Buried Alive, p. 161; December, 2004, Ann G. Brouse, review of Are We Alone?, p. 170; July, 2005, Jessi Platt, review of The Revolt, p. 108.

Voice of Youth Advocates, August, 1995, Marsha Valance, review of Cyberstorm, p. 174; August, 1997, Linda Roberts, review of Virtual War, p. 196; April, 1999, Vicky Burkholder, review of Spider's Voice, p. 42.