Crum, Shutta 1951-

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Crum, Shutta 1951-

Personal

Born 1951; married. Education: University of Michigan, B.A. (library science), M.A. (library science). Hobbies and other interests: Quilting, mosaics.

Addresses

Home and office—P.O. Box 7444, Ann Arbor, MI 48107. E-mail—[email protected].

Career

Writer. South Lyon District Library, South Lyon, MI, former library director; Ann Arbor District Library, Ann Arbor, MI, former children's librarian and storyteller, and manager of Northeast Branch Library. Teacher in Holly, MI, public high school; Washtenaw Community College, MI, former instructor.

Awards, Honors

Children's Services Award of Merit, Michigan Library Association, 2002; One Hundred Books for Reading and Sharing designation, New York Public Library, 2003, and shortlisted for Kentucky Bluegrass Award, 2005, and South Carolina Junior Book Reward, 2006, both for Spitting Image; Best Children's Books of the

Year designation, Bank Street College, 2002, and Black-eyed Susan Award shortlist, both 2003, for Who Took My Hairy Toe?; Canada Our Choice designation, 2002, for All on a Sleepy Night; Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum award, Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year, and Volunteer State Book Award, 2007, for Fox and Fluff; Great Lakes Book Awards shortlist, 2004, for The House in the Meadow; Canada Our Choice designation, 2003, and Chocolate Lily Young Readers' Award shortlist, 2005, both for Click!; one of eight authors invited to read at 2005 White House Easter Egg Roll; Best Children's Book of the Year designation, Bank Street College, 2005, and Georgia Picture Storybook Award shortilst, 2009, both for My Mountain Song; Chicago Public Library Best of the Best designation, 2005, International Reading Association/Children's Book Council Choice designation, 2006, and Young Hoosier Award shortlist, 2008, all for Bravest of the Brave; Cybil Award shortlist, 2008, for A Family for Old Mill Farm.

Writings

PICTURE BOOKS

Who Took My Hairy Toe?, illustrated by Katya Krenina, Albert Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 2001.

All on a Sleepy Night, illustrated by Sylvie Daigneault, Fitzhenry & Whiteside (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2001.

Fox and Fluff, Albert Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 2002.

The House in the Meadow, illustrated by Paige Billin-Frey, Albert Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 2003.

Click!, illustrated by John Beder, Fitzhenry & Whiteside (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2003.

My Mountain Song, illustrated by Ted Rand, Clarion Books (New York, NY), 2004.

The Bravest of the Brave, illustrated by Tim Bowers, Alfred A. Knopf (New York, NY), 2005.

A Family for Old Mill Farm, illustrated by Niki Daly, Clarion Books (New York, NY), 2007.

Thunder-Boomer!, illustrated by Carol Thompson, Clarion Books (New York, NY), 2009.

OTHER

Spitting Image (novel), Clarion Books (New York, NY), 2003.

Contributor of poetry for adults to magazines and professional journals.

Adaptations

Some of Crum's books have been adapted as audiobooks. My Mountain Song was adapted by Toni Buzzeo for reader's theatre, Library Sparks magazine, 2007.

Sidelights

Shutta Crum worked as a children's librarian and storyteller for twenty-five years. In addition to drawing from this experience to write a number of children's picture books, Crum is also the author of the novel Spitting Image.

Crum's first book, Who Took My Hairy Toe?, is based on an old folk tale. "It is a very old folk tale with a long oral tradition," she explained to Cynthia Leitich Smith in an online interview for Cynsations. "Who Took My Hairy Toe? is my version of that folk tale that has passed from one person to another for hundreds of years." The story involves a strange monster who is searching for his lost toe. According to DeAnn Tabuchi in School Library Journal, "the language begs to be read aloud, with a bit of a drawl, with just the right touch of spookiness." "The neat thing about Who Took My Hairy Toe?," Crum told Smith, "is that it is perfect for young readers who want to be a little scared, but not TOO much! And the kids always ask; how did the monster lose his toe? That's a question I'm not ready to ask the monster yet."

For her first novel, Spitting Image, Crum takes readers back to 1967 and a poor rural area of Kentucky. Twelve-year-old Jessie Bovey lives with her single mother just outside of town. She is trying to control her anger, which gets her into fistfights whenever things do not go her way, and is also hoping to find out who her father was. Along the way, Jessie befriends a poverty worker who has been sent to help the town's poor. When the government worker's efforts lead the mass media to take notice of the little town, their coverage is insulting to the locals. "Through Jessie's authentic, resounding voice," wrote a critic for Publishers Weekly, "the author ably balances the humorous and the heart-wrenching as she presents an affecting portrait of memorable characters in trying times." Writing in School Library Journal, Cindy Darling Codell praised Spitting Image for having an "absorbing plot with an uplifting ending," dubbing it "a remarkable first novel." Hazel Rochman, writing in Booklist, found that, "woven in with all the local color details is the compelling drama of … [Jessie's] search for her father, told with truth, tears, laughter, and real surprise."

Brenda Gail is spending the summer with her grandparents in Crum's picture book My Mountain Song. After she learns that each person who lives in the mountains has a "mountain song" inside of them made up of all their favorite memories, Brenda begins to discover her own song. "Written in folksy language, the tender story is beautifully illustrated," according to Karen Hutt in Booklist. "Together," wrote Laurie Edwards in School Library Journal, "author and illustrator [Ted Rand]

[Image not available for copyright reasons]

have created a delight for the senses that harmonizes the coziness of a close-knit family with the gentle ambience of old-fashioned farm life."

Featuring cartoon art by Niki Daly, A Family for Old Mill Farm was "probably the most difficult book I've ever written," Crum told Smith in an interview for Cynsations. "It took many months of rewrites, it took cutting up the manuscript and rearranging (by me and my editor), it took a grid outline used by my editor to keep track of where we were." The story concerns a young married couple and their son who are looking to buy a house in the country. Every house their real estate agent shows them proves to be a problem. Breezy Lake Lodge is much too windy, while Dry River Ranch has no water. Meanwhile, a raccoon real estate agent has been finding homes for his animal clients at the Old Mill Farm. Eventually, the human family ends up at the Old Mill Farm as well. In her review for School Library Journal, Linda L. Walkins concluded that Crum's story "does cleverly celebrate the importance of turning an unfamiliar house into a beloved home."

Crum discusses her passion for encouraging children to read in an interview with Toni Buzzeo for Library Sparks magazine. "By reading we come to know that even one small event can have great repercussions," she explained, "that we can't always predict how others will respond, and that how an event is perceived depends upon the perspective of the perceiver. Because of this, we begin to understand the world outside our small daily spheres. It may not always make sense to us, but we know it's there and we have begun to learn how to interact with it. By reading we learn what is expected of us and what we can expect…. hopefully, reading also instills in us an insatiable curiosity to find out more about the great going-on-and-on world beyond our own families and friends."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, August, 2001, John Peters, review of Who Took My Hairy Toe?, p. 2124; September 15, 2002, Kathy Broderick, review of All on a Sleepy Night, p. 238; October 15, 2002, Lauren Peterson, review of Fox and Fluff, p. 411; March 1, 2003, Hazel Rochman, review of Spitting Image, p. 1206; April 1, 2003, Diane Foote, review of The House in the Meadow, p. 1400; February 15, 2004, Abby Nolan, review of Click!, p. 1061; May 1, 2004, Karen Hutt, review of My Mountain Song, p. 1562.

Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2002, review of Fox and Fluff, p. 1125; February 1, 2003, review of The House in the Meadow, p. 228; April 15, 2003, review of Spitting Image, p. 605; May 1, 2004, review of My Mountain Song, p. 440; May 1, 2007, review of A Family for Old Mill Farm.

Library Sparks, August-September, 2007, Toni Buzzeo, interview with Crum.

Publishers Weekly, February 3, 2003, review of The House in the Meadow, p. 74; April 21, 2003, review of Spitting Image, p. 62; June 14, 2004, review of My Mountain Song, p. 63.

Resource Links, February, 2002, Gail Lennon, review of All on a Sleepy Night, p. 3.

School Library Journal, October, 2001, DeAnn Tabuchi, review of Who Took My Hairy Toe?, p. 137; May, 2002, Linda Ludke, review of All on a Sleepy Night, p. 111; December, 2002, Kristin de Lacoste, review of Fox and Fluff, p. 86; April, 2003, Linda M. Kenton, review of The House in the Meadow, p. 118; April, 2003, Cindy Darling Codell, review of Spitting Image, p. 157; February, 2004, Carolyn Janssen, review of Click!, p. 104; June, 2004, Laurie Edwards, review of Mountain Song, p. 104; July, 2004, Casey Rodini, review of Spitting Image, p. 60; April, 2005, Lisa Gangemi Kropp, review of The Bravest of the Brave, p. 96; June, 2007, Linda L. Walkins, review of A Family for Old Mill Farm, p. 96.