Writer of the Plains: A Story about Willa Cather

by Tom Streissguth, Karen Ritz (Illustrator)

From the time she was a young child, Willa Cather had a gift with words and she loved stories. As a child on the Nebraska prairie, she heard many stories from her neighbors, many of them immigrants, and she never forgot them. She begun to write stories of her own, and even after she became a successful journalist, she made time for them. Her great novels of the prairie, such as O Pioneers! and My Antonia , established her as one of the finest writers of all time. In Writer of the Plains , author Tom Streissguth paints a clear and interesting portrait of this complex and independent woman.

Genres: Biography

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Tom Streissguth holds a B.A. from Yale University. He has written more than 40 books of history and biography.

Reviews

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Battle of the Books choice for 4th graders. While reading with my 10 year old, I would have liked to skip when Willa Cather's neighbor shot himself while pulling the trigger of his gun with his toe. When a book is written for children, suicide should be approached differently.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although Willa Cather is one of my favorite authors, I would not rec. this as a read aloud. Some of the content is unpleasant (if you've read My Antonia you know what I mean) and it's reasonable that it's included in her bio., but I had to skip over a few parts in order to read it to my kids. It's a good book, but since I chose it as a read aloud I'm only giving it three stars.