Fienberg, Anna 1956-

views updated

Fienberg, Anna 1956-

Personal

Born November 23, 1956, in Canterbury, England; immigrated to Australia, c. 1959. Hobbies and other interests: Reading, travel.

Addresses

Home—Australia.

Career

Writer. School magazine, New South Wales, Australia, member of staff beginning 1980, editor, 1988-90. Consultant to national book club; lecturer on creative writing.

Awards, Honors

Book of the Year for younger readers, Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA), 1992, for The Magnificent Nose and Other Marvels; Alan Marshall Prize for Children's Literature, Victorian Premier's Literary awards, 1993; New South Wales Premier's Prize shortlist, 1995, for Power to Burn; Children's Book of the Year Award shortlist, CBCA, 1988, for Wiggy and Boa, 1995, for Tashi, and 2001, for Joseph; CBCA Book of the Year Award Honor for Older Readers, 2000, and American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults designation, 2001, both for Borrowed Light.

Writings

CHILDREN'S FICTION

Billy Bear and the Wild Winter, illustrated by Astra Lacis, Angus & Robertson (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia), 1988.

The Champion, seven volumes (includes Con the Whiz Kid, Marisa's Party, My Goldie, Stefano's Nonna, A Teddy for Louise, Please, Teresa Trouble, and Tien Tells Minh), illustrated by Felicity Meyer, Traffic Authority of New South Wales (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia), 1988.

Wiggy and Boa, illustrated by Ann James, Dent (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), 1988, Houghton (Boston, MA), 1990, published as Pirate Trouble for Wiggy and Boa, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 1996, reprinted under original title, Penguin (Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia), 2008.

The Nine Lives of Balthazar, illustrated by Donna Gynell, Houghton (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), 1989.

The Magnificent Nose and Other Marvels, illustrated by Kim Gamble, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 1991.

Ariel, Zed, and the Secret of Life, illustrated by Kim Gamble, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 1992.

The Hottest Boy Who Ever Lived, illustrated by Kim Gamble, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 1993, Albert Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 1995.

Madeline the Mermaid, and Other Fishy Tales, illustrated by Ann James, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 1995.

Power to Burn, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 1995.

Dead Sailors Don't Bite, illustrated by Ann James, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 1996.

The Doll's Secret, Australia Post (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), 1997.

The Witch in the Lake (middle-grade novel), Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 2001.

Joseph, illustrated by Kim Gamble, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 2001.

Horrendo's Curse, illustrated by Kim Gamble, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 2002.

"TASHI" SERIES

(With mother, Barbara Fienberg) Tashi (also see below), illustrated by Kim Gamble, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 1995.

(With Barbara Fienberg) Tashi and the Giants, illustrated by Kim Gamble, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 1995.

(With Barbara Fienberg) Tashi and the Ghosts (also see below), illustrated by Kim Gamble, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 1996.

(With Barbara Fienberg) Tashi and the Genie, illustrated by Kim Gamble, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 1997.

(With Barbara Fienberg) Tashi and the Baba Yaga (also see below), illustrated by Kim Gamble, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 1998.

(With Barbara Fienberg) Tashi and the Demons (also see below), illustrated by Kim Gamble, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 1999.

(With Barbara Fienberg) Tashi and the Dancing Shoes (also see below), illustrated by Kim Gamble, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 2001.

(With Barbara Fienberg) The Big Big Big Book of Tashi (omnibus; includes Tashi, Tashi and the Giants, Tashi and the Ghosts, Tashi and the Baba Yaga, and Tashi and the Demons), illustrated by Kim Gamble, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 2001.

(With Barbara Fienberg) Tashi and the Haunted House (also see below), illustrated by Kim Gamble, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 2002.

(With Barbara Fienberg) Tashi and the Royal Tomb (also see below), illustrated by Kim Gamble, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 2003.

(With Barbara Fienberg) There Once Was a Boy Called Tashi, illustrated by Kim Gamble, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 2004.

(With Barbara Fienberg) Tashi Lost in the City (also see below), illustrated by Kim Gamble, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 2004.

(With Barbara Fienberg) Tashi and the Forbidden Room, illustrated by Kim Gamble, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 2005.

(With Barbara Fienberg) Tashi and the Big Stinker, illustrated by Kim Gamble, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 2006.

(With Barbara Fienberg) Tashi and the Stolen Bus, illustrated by Kim Gamble, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 2006.

(With Barbara Fienberg) The 2nd Big Book of Tashi (omnibus; includes Tashi and the Dancing Shoes, Tashi and the Haunted House, Tashi and the Royal City, and Tashi Lost in the City), illustrated by Kim Gamble, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 2006.

(With Barbara Fienberg) Tashi and the Mixed-up Monster, illustrated by Kim Gamble, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 2007.

Author's works have been translated into several languages, including Russian, Korean, German, Lithuanian, Slovenian, and Chinese.

"MINTON" SERIES

Minton Goes Flying, illustrated by Kim Gamble, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 1998.

Minton Goes Sailing, illustrated by Kim Gamble, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 1998.

Minton Goes Driving, illustrated by Kim Gamble, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 1999.

Minton Goes Trucking, illustrated by Kim Gamble, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 1999.

Minton Goes Home, illustrated by Kim Gamble, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 2000.

Minton Goes Under, illustrated by Kim Gamble, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 2000.

YOUNG-ADULT NOVELS

Borrowed Light, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 1999, Delacorte (New York, NY), 2000.

Number Eight, Penguin (Camberwell, Victoria, Australia), 2006, Walker (New York, NY), 2007.

OTHER

Eddie, Jacaranda Wiley (Queensland, Australia), 1988.

(Reteller) The World of May Gibbs (stories), illustrated by Vicky Kitanov, HarperCollins (New South Wales, Australia), 1997.

(Reteller) Hans Christian Andersen, Thumbelina, illustrated by Mark Jackson and Heather Potter, Pan (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia), 2003.

Sidelights

Children's picture-book author Anna Fienberg got her start in the field of children's literature while working as an editor at School magazine in her native Australia. While focusing primarily on elementary-grade readers, Fienberg has also expanded her audience to include picture-book fans with stories such as The Hottest Boy Who Ever Lived and Joseph. Teen readers have appreciated novels such as Borrowed Light, in which Fienberg examines life and love from a more mature perspective.

Born in England in 1956, Fienberg moved with her family to Australia when she was three years old. Five years later, the imaginative young girl could proudly announce that she was an author, having written her first complete story, an energetic tale that recounted the escapades of talking dolphins spouting ten-cent words. Other stories quickly followed, leading to a college degree in English and a job as an editor at a magazine-publishing company.

After reading over one thousand children's books for review purposes, Fienberg felt expert enough to write her own stories. Billy Bear and the Wild Winter, which was published in 1988, became her debut and the first of her books to feature what Kerry White described in the St. James Guide to Children's Writers as "resourceful children who develop their special talents in worlds where almost anything is possible."

Fienberg's picture book The Magnificent Nose and Other Marvels collects stories that focus on the whimsical worlds captured in daydreams. In each tale the main character is a young person with a unique talent that in his or her daydreams becomes a source of power. In one story, for example, curious young Ferdinand Feedlebenz's fascination with warts, moles, and bumps causes him to find a way to cure people of all manner of misshapenness. Praising the humor in Fienberg's tales, Horn Book contributor Karen Jameyson noted that a "magical feeling drifts pleasantly from page to page" throughout the entire volume.

The Hottest Boy Who Ever Lived, another picture-book offering by Fienberg, finds young Hector heating up everything around him, making it difficult to sustain anything other than cold-blooded, reptilian companionship as a result. Hector lives alone in a jungle near a steamy volcano until one day when he is washed out to sea. Ultimately coming ashore in more-northern climes, where he melts the icebergs in his path, the boy meets Gilda, a young Viking girl who can appreciate the heat this strange boy throws off. A pleasant tale that emphasizes friendship and overcoming differences, The Hottest Boy Who Ever Lived was praised by Magpies reviewer John Murray as "a happy tale of friendship found and loneliness defeated, with characters that complement one another in the most direct way."

Characters embodying opposites are also featured in Wiggy and Boa. Here Fienberg introduces Boadicea "Boa" Bolderack, a young teen who is constantly cajoled as to the virtues of tidiness by her grandfather, a retired sea captain whose stories of his seafaring past fuel her imagination. Wishful thinking about the days of old ends in chaos, however, as Boa finds that through her wishing she has summoned forth several members of her grandfather's coarse, unruly, piratical crew. Harboring ill will toward the captain who stranded them on a deserted island, these pirates plot revenge, and it is up to Boa and friend Wiggy—an expert in confusion and chaos of all sorts—to come up with a solution to the dilemma. Horn Book contributor Ellen Fader described Wiggy and Boa as "a robust tale … told with great energy and rollicking good humor," while in School Library Journal Ruth Smith deemed Fienberg's book an entertaining marriage of "an Aikenesque sense of melodrama [and]… Roald Dahl's appetite for the grotesque." Dead Sailors Don't Bite continues the salty pirate escapades, as the loss of the crew's favorite possessions—a bunch of marbles—causes the still-surly pirate crew to kidnap the thief: an unwitting teacher. With no grown-ups in sight, the collective smarts of Boa and Wiggy must once again set things right.

The popular "Tashi" stories, which were praised by Magpies contributor Russ Merrin as "a gentle, imaginative, and highly enjoyable fantasy," began with a chat between Fienberg and her mother. Barbara Fienberg admitted that when she was a child she used to tell some amazing stories to entertain her friends. Brainstorming about a character like that—someone who told outlandish tall tales and was believed—the two women developed the character of Tashi, along with Tashi's best friend, the somewhat gullible and totally awestruck Jack. Tashi debuted in a self-titled picture book in 1995, and immediately mesmerized readers with his story of arriving in his new town on the back of a swan, having only barely escaped death at the hands of a horrid warlord in his own, far-off country. His further quasi-adventures are recounted in a series of books, among them Tashi and the Ghosts, Tashi and the Baba Yaga, Tashi and the Big Stinker, and Tashi Lost in the City. Speaking to Fienberg's Australian roots, the Asian influences in the "Tashi" stories were noted by a Kirkus Reviews writer; nonetheless, Gay Lynn Van Vleck predicted in her School Library Journal review of Tashi and the Big Stinker that U.S. readers "will welcome the

humor and appreciate the protagonist, who always makes himself the hero of his playground stories." The "popularity of the series is easy to understand," wrote a Publishers Weekly contributor, adding that Kim Gamble's accompanying illustrations "are an integral part of the fun."

Geared for middle-grade readers, The Witch in the Lake is set in the Italian Renaissance. Raised in a small village, Leo is the son of wizards, and his father has taught him both the benefits and dangers of the wizard's art. As he learns to deal with the responsibility his gift brings, Leo also confronts an evil witch with the help of his friend Merilee, thereby freeing his fellow villager from the fear and suspicion that has haunted their community for years. Praising Fienberg's story as "original, well presented and accessible," Kliatt reviewer Donna L. Scanlon deemed The Witch in the Lake as "a good choice for mystery fans." Leo's difficulty in dealing with his family legacy, and Merilee's willingness to confront evil prompted Saleena L. Davidson to write that the "flaws and strengths" of Feinberg's young protagonists "are built on in a believable story that will keep readers on the edge of their seats."

Other books for middle-grade readers include Ariel, Zed, and the Secret of Life and Horrendo's Curse. Described by Booklist contributor Susan DeRonne as an "unusual book" about a young girl who is transported into a magical world, Ariel, Zed, and the Secret of Life is also "packed with action and age-appropriate literary references," according to the critic. Featuring illustrations by Gamble, Horrendo's Curse introduces a polite pre-teen who has trouble fitting in with his pirate peers because he has been cursed into never being allowed to speak ill of anyone or anything. As Horrendo wins over his pirate band through his cooking skills, Kay Weisman wrote in Booklist that Horrendo's Curse will win over beginning readers with its "delightful adventure," "wordplay," and humorous cast of "insult-spewing malcontents." According to John Dryden in Resource Links, the book presents "a witty tale" that contains "enough quirks and trivialities to keep readers surprised and interested."

In Fienberg's award-winning young-adult novel Borrowed Light, readers meet sixteen-year-old Callisto May. In the story Callisto deals with an unwanted pregnancy and the inner and outer turmoil it causes in her life, as her boyfriend becomes unavailable, her parents distance themselves, and her own friends find it difficult to deal with this major shift in her life. Praising the novel's first-person narration, a Publishers Weekly contributor called the text "poetic in both its language and its pacing." Callisto's "isolation and her search for acceptance, friends, and self-affirmation have a universal, realistic, yet contemporary feel," concluded Gail Richmond in her School Library Journal review.

Focusing on a younger teen, Number Eight finds Jackson moving to a new home in the suburbs, where he channels his worries and concerns into an obsession with numbers. The thirteen-year-old Jackson soon finds a friend and romantic interest in neighbor Esmerelda, who finds her own passion in music, as well as in schoolmate Asim. While a bullying teen interferes with Jackson's school life, another threat presents itself in the form of a group of mobsters who are trying to track down Jackson's widowed mom. Valerie, a witness to a crime, is trying to live under the radar, and her fear of retaliation prompted the family's move. "Fienberg excels at creating quirky, sympathetic characters," wrote Booklist critic Krista Hutley in a review of Number Eight, and Horn Book reviewer Lauren Adams praised the author for creating "two very likable protagonists with rich emotional lives." A Kirkus Reviews critic wrote that Fienberg's dual narratives create a "suspense [that] builds toward a gripping climax."

As a prolific writer, Fienberg is always open to inspiration for new stories. "I write in my head all the time," the Australian writer explained in a profile posted on ChildrensLit.com. "If I hear something interesting, I underline it in my mind and put exclamation marks around it, trying to remember it for later. News items, conversations, books, dreams, memories—they're all precious gold mines for story ideas. Better still, if I have my notebook with me, I write it down."

Biographical and Critical Sources

BOOKS

St. James Guide to Children's Writers, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1999, pp. 366-367.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, October 15, 1992, Julie Corsaro, review of The Magnificent Nose and Other Marvels, p. 438; July, 1994, Susan DeRonne, review of Ariel, Zed, and the Secret of Life, p. 1947; June 1, 2000, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of Borrowed Light, p. 1881; De-

cember 1, 2002, Kay Weisman, review of Horrendo's Curse, p. 664; September 15, 2007, Krista Hutley, review of Number Eight, p. 59.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, March, 1990, review of Wiggy and Boa, p. 158; June, 2000, review of Borrowed Light, p. 355.

Canadian Review of Materials, May 10, 2002, review of The Witch in the Lake; September 6, 2002, review of Horrendo's Curse.

Horn Book, July-August, 1990, Ellen Fader, review of Wiggy and Boa, p. 454; July-August, 1992, Karen Jameyson, review of The Magnificent Nose and Other Marvels, pp. 497-500; September-October, 1992, Nancy Vasilakis, review of The Magnificent Nose and Other Marvels, p. 582; July, 1993, review of Ariel, Zed, and the Secret of Life, p. 497; March-April, 1994, Karen Jameyson, review of The Hottest Boy Who Ever Lived, pp. 242-243; July, 2000, Lauren Adams, review of Borrowed Light, p. 457; September-October, 2007, Lauren Adams, review of Number Eight, p. 574.

Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2002, review of The Witch in the Lake, p. 410; August 1, 2002, review of Horrendo's Curse, p. 1127; September 1, 2006, review of There Once Was a Boy Called Tashi, p. 903; July 1, 2007, review of Number 8.

Kliatt, July, 2002, Donna L. Scanlon, review of The Witch in the Lake, p. 28.

Magpies, May, 1995, Russ Merrin, review of Tashi, p. 31; November, 1993, John Murray, review of The Hottest Boy Who Ever Lived, p. 29.

Publishers Weekly, July 6, 1992, review of The Magnificent Nose and Other Marvels, p. 56; April 25, 1994, review of Ariel, Zed, and the Secret of Life, p. 79; June 19, 2000, review of Borrowed Light, p. 81; June 3, 2002, review of The Big, Big, Big Book of Tashi, p. 88; June 9, 2003, review of Tashi and the Haunted House, p. 54.

School Library Journal, May, 1990, Ruth Smith, review of Wiggy and Boa, pp. 104-105; January, 1993, Caroline Parr, review of The Magnificent Nose and Other Marvels, p. 74; June, 1994, Anne Connor, review of Ariel, Zed, and the Secret of Life, p. 126; March, 1995, Rosanne Cerny, review of The Hottest Boy Who Ever Lived, p. 180; June, 2000, Gail Richmond, review of Borrowed Light, p. 144; July, 2001, Gay Lynn Van Vleck, review of Tashi and the Big Stinker, p. 75; August, 2002, Saleena L. Davidson, review of The Witch in the Lake, p. 183; February, 2003, Alison Grant, review of Horrendo's Curse, p. 141.