Phyllis Wheatley

by Victoria Sherrow

Phyllis Wheatley was born in West Africa, kidnapped by slave traders and brought to Boston in 1761 to live with a wealthy merchant family, the Wheatleys, as a domestic servant. With the help of the Wheatleys, she had a book of poetry published in London, the second woman in America to accomplish such a feat.

Genres: Biography

80 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1992

About the author

Victoria discovered her interest in reading and writing both in early adolescence. In 1978 she moved to Los Angeles and worked two jobs. It was at that time she read Writing for Children and Teenagers by Lee Wyndham , and that is when her fate as a writer was sealed. Victoria had decided to write a children's novel. She went to an annual L.A. conference on writing for children where she learned the basics of marketing and submitting work for writers. Then she started writing.

Her first stories were rejected but she kept strong at it. The year after(1979), she managed to sell a story. Then she sold more. And since she has become a multiple award winning author with over 100 published titles to her name. Sherrow has written poetry, short stories, picture books, and articles.

Victoria has taught writing for over twenty years, reviewed children’s books for newspapers, judged writing contests, and done numerous presentations at schools, libraries, and bookstores. She is a long-time member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and served as a judge for the SCBWI’s Golden Kite Award.

Reviews

[Don Harton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a “Junior World Biography”; it’s obviously basic but it is a good introduction to a remarkable black woman, a seven or eight year old girl brought to Boston on the slave ship Phillis and sold to the Wheatley family. Taking the name of the ship and the name of the family, Phillis Wheatley learns English and begins writing poetry, publishing her first book of poems by the time she is 20. This is an astounding and true story, simply told in this book, incredibly lived by this woman.

This book includes none of her poems. Look elsewhere for those - they are also remarkable.

[Mills College Library]

811.1 W557s 1992