Tal, Eve 1947-

views updated

Tal, Eve 1947-

Personal

Born 1947, in Rockville Centre, NY; children: Erez (son). Education: Oberlin College, B.A. (English and American literature); Hollins University, M.A. (children's literature), 2006.

Addresses

Home and office—Kibbutz Hatzor, Israel. E-mail—[email protected].

Career

Educator and author. Kibbutz Cabri, Israel, English teacher; has worked as a secretary, copywriter, events planner, and fund raiser.

Member

Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

Awards, Honors

Israeli Museum Honor Award for illustrations by Ora Swartz, for I Want to Go Home; National Jewish Book Award runner-up, 2005, and Paterson Prize for Books for Young People, Skipping Stone Honor Award, International Reading Association Notable Book for a Global Society designation, and Association of Jewish Libraries Notable Children's Book of Jewish Content, all 2006, all for Double Crossing.

Writings

HaAgalah borahat, illustrated by Ora Swartz, Sifriyat (Tel-Aviv, Israel), 1985, bilingual English/Hebrew edition published as A New Boy, Milk and Honey Press (Denver, CO), 2006.

Double Crossing: A Jewish Immigration Story for Young Adults, Cinco Puntos Press (El Paso, TX), 2005.

Also author of Hebrew-language picture books with titles translated as The Runaway Carriage, New Kid in the Class, I Want to Go Home, and Not Afraid of Dogs.

Sidelights

Growing up in the United States, Eve Tal enjoyed writing and reading. However, as she got older and began working, traveling, and raising her family, her writing was relegated to hobby status. Eventually moving to Israel, Tal began teaching English at Kibbutz Cabri, a collective farm, and her interest in writing was rekindled. In addition to creating picture-book texts in Hebrew, Tal also draws on her family history in a longer work of fiction, the award-winning children's novel Double Crossing: A Jewish Immigration Story for Young Adults.

Double Crossing opens in 1905 as eleven-year-old Raizel Balaban and her sickly father immigrate from Ukraine to the United States in search of a better life. At the turn of the twentieth century, Eastern Europe was plagued by hard times, and the region's Jewish population suffered immensely. Forced undercover because of laws against Jewish emigration, the two make it to the Russian coast and across the ocean to Ellis Island only after a long journey. While father and daughter are initially refused entry by U.S. immigration authorities due to concerns about Papa's poor health, Papa's willingness to forgo his traditional Orthodox Jewish customs and Americanize ultimately gains them entry. With the help of his daughter, Binyumin Balaban becomes Benjamin Altman, an American. "Tal's fictionalized account of her grandfather's journey to America is fast paced, full of suspense, and highly readable," remarked Rachel Kamin in a review for School Library Journal, while Kliatt contributor Janis Flint-Ferguson praised the book's "haunting images" of the immigrant experience. Hazel Rochman, writing in Booklist, cited

Tal's surprise ending for providing readers with a version "of the immigration story [that has been] left too long untold."

On her home page Tal provided advice for aspiring writers: "Write. Don't talk about it. Do it. And then rewrite. Find people who can provide insightful criticism. Rewrite. And then submit. But most important, don't give up. Stubbornness is a writer's most important trait. Or, if you want to be fancy, call it dedication."