Willa: The Story Of Willa Cather, An American Writer

by Amy Ehrlich, Wendell Minor (Illustrator)

“Captivating…” – Booklist

From award-winning author Amy Ehrlich comes an illustrated biography of Willa Cather, one of America’s greatest and most beloved writers.

Willa Cather’s life was a true American success story. A pioneer and determined spirit, Willa didn’t let anything stand in her way. She refused to be discouraged by the fact that in the 1880s women hadn’t written before, because she had many ideas to share. By becoming a trailblazer and following her heart, Willa Cather is remembered today as one of the greatest American writers in history.

Filled with captivating and historically accurate details, as well as gorgeous illustrations by Wendell Minor, this illustrated chapter book is ideal nonfiction for middle graders.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Picture Books, Childrens, History, Historical, Middle Grade

72 pages, Hardcover

First published January 26, 2016

About the author

Amy Ehrlich is the author of more than thirty books for young readers and is also a winner of The Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award for her novel Joyride, which was also chosen Booklist Choice Best Book of the Decade. She lives on a farm in Northern Vermont with her husband and a great many domestic and agricultural animals.

Reviews

[Sheri · Rating 2 out of 5]

An attractive book with nice illustrations that reads more like a slightly expanded time line than a biography, and disappointingly provides only surface level coverage of Willa's life and writing.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a lovely little biography of Willa Cather for older children. The biographical information is good and focuses on the experiences in Willa’s life that shaped her as a writer. I learned new things and made some new connections between Willa’s life and her fiction, especially the parallels between her life and her novel The Song of the Lark. The illustrations are beautiful and vividly colorful. Wendell Minor captures the beauty of the prairie well with grass full of wildflowers. There is a section at the end with a timeline of Willa’s life including famous literary figures she met, which I found fascinating. She met people like Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Mark Twain, and Sigrid Undset. Oh, to be in on those conversations!

[Kathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Planning a "literary excursion" to visit the place so vividly told in O Pioneers, My Antonia and Song of the Lark, so I wanted to read more about Willa Cather herself. This book was the only one available at the library that day. Willa is a vague sort of overview about this famous author..a little too vague. I am afraid this book will do little to encourage the reader (young or old) to pick up a book by Willa Cather...and they should.

[Bibliomama · Rating 4 out of 5]

Birthday present from Claire.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This middle-grade biography tells the story of Willa Cather, author who is best known for her books set on the prairie. Cather is likely not a name who is known with middle-grade readers as she wrote for adults. Nevertheless it is refreshing to read a children's biography of her. Cather moved to the prairie as a girl and fell in love with it. She also discovered a desire to move beyond traditional roles of the time and become a writer and journalist. This brief biography of fewer than 70 pages says a lot in a short book but also is broken up with Wendell Minor's vivid watercolor illustrations of scenes from Cather's life. The illustrations of the prairie make that area of the country come alive and show why Cather chose to set many of her books there. Amy Ehrlich includes a timeline of Cather's life and a list with brief biographies of some of Cather's female writer contemporaries. All in all, nicely written book but I'm not sure how many children would pick it up.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.

I had higher hopes for this. The cover illustration and even those inside are beautiful but the over all story and the chosen highlights of Cather's life fell a little flat. I was so very disappointed. I see from other reviews that I am not the only one.

Sigh.

[Abbie Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful children’s picture biography on Willa Cather’s life and career. The colored pencil and watercolor illustrations contribute a softness to Cather’s often hard characterization and oh! The accordances!

Erlich includes chapter titles with dates that make it easily browseable and provide multiple access points. The backmatter includes an extensive bibliography of resources used in the author’s research process, as well as a chronological timeline of major events in Willa Cather’s life. Erlich also adds a list of contemporary American women writers of the time, mentioning their connections to Cather, as well as their importance as writers beyond those connections as a means to encourage further exploration and guide young readers’ curiosity.

One thing that a good children’s biography should do is encourage the flourishing of curiosity on a subject, and Erlich takes this a step further by providing branches for that curiosity to follow in directing further reading about other important turn of the 20th century women writers. This biography would also make an appropriate read for a wider age range in audience. The abundance of illustrations and simple enough language make it accessible as a read aloud for younger children, while the complexity of some of the concepts and subtleties of Cather’s experience of life make it an engaging text for children on a higher reading level up to later elementary school.

Content-wise, Erlich touches on two subjects of which earlier children’s biographers of Cather tiptoe around, that of Cather’s final novel Sapphira and the Slave Girl, and her rejection of gender norms and contested sexual identity. Erlich briefly discusses the Cather family’s history of slave ownership and the way that impacted and informed Willa Cather’s own stance on racial inequities (3). She also makes a point of explaining Cather’s choice as a young woman to cut her hair short and engage in more typically masculine pursuits, rather than just noting the event of the haircut in passing as previous authors do (26).

Big fan all around!

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid, concise, and readable biography of Willa Cather's life aimed at elementary school children. This focuses more on her childhood and early writing career than on her life as a novelist. The back matter includes a useful timeline of Cather's life and sources. The color illustrations throughout make the text feel fresher than a biography relying on old black and white photographs. Would recommend for both school and public libraries.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This chronological biography seems a bit disjointed with chapters seemingly skipping large sections of Cather's life, and leaving many dangling questions. The illustrations by Wendell Minor are the best feature of the book. While Cather is important to U.S. literary history, students in the demographic likely to read this biography will not be familiar with her books, nor particularly interested in her life.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Illustrations 4/5

There were some lovely two-page spreads that showed scenes from Willa's life. The prose was okay. It jumped around a fair amount as well. I don't know if this would hold a child's interest.

I find Willa Cather fascinating. Her novels are thought provoking. I also love that she was born in Frederick County, VA.

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some basic information about Willa Cather. The illustrations and paintings are good. The flow of the text is slow and reminded me of a dull textbook. The writing style was "schoolish" and left lots of room for improvement. Overall I was disappointed with this title.

[Betsy Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has a nice female writer section at the end

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm sure this is fascinating to anybody who is particularly invested in the life of Willa Cather, but I think for children it could come off a tad droll.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.7 Stars

[wildct2003 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Author was not clear in what she was trying to say at least twice that I can recall now. Good drawings by Wendell Minor.

[Ammie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Umm. The writing was terribly droll and thoughts half finished. The illustrations by Minor were lovely.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated biography, simplified for kids.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well done - I learned a lot but it was still short

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I admire her

[Kay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lovely illustrations (Wendell Minor) but the biography itself was disappointing. Although Cather was mainly a writer for adults she did have an interesting life that could be a good example for children. Sadly this book felt too choppy and events felt half told. Example: Ehrlich writes about when Willa's family was moving west, their family dog had been given to a neighbor. When the family was boarding the train to leave the dog comes running across the fields dragging his chain. Did he end up going with them? Did Willa get off the train and comfort the dog? We don't know as the author just left the incident hanging - no conclusion. There were several other scenes in the book like this.

[Dawn Moews · Rating 3 out of 5]

This biography of American author Willa Cather written for children was a bit disappointing to me. The information presented was interesting, but it seemed to be pretty superficial. Information was presented, but not fully developed. This was especially apparent as the author moved from chapter to chapter.

This would be a good book to introduce the author, but it does not provide any real depth or insight.
(17: 0, 1, 0)

[Cindy Mitchell *Kiss the Book* · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ehrlich, Amy Willa: The Story of Willa Cather, an American Writer Illustrated by Wendell Minor, 65 pages. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2016. $16.99. Language: G (0 Swears); Mature Content: G; Violence: G.

Willa Cather is considered one of America’s great writers of the early twentieth century. This is a simple, illustrated biography of her life and work aimed at younger readers. Her story is told in a way to emphasize how her life experiences influenced the type of writings she eventually created. There is a nice timeline of other American women writers who were contemporary to Willa at the back.

I found this to be a well-written biography for younger readers. The illustrations are very well done and enhance the story being told. I think many readers will feel a connection with Willa Cather, and this a great story to introduce them to an author that is not well known to many. It is not a book most kids would seek out, but if given the opportunity I think they would enjoy. It would be excellent for a class biography assignment.

EL, MS—ADVISABLE. Reviewer: TC
http://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2016/...

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm confused by the choices the author made on what to highlight about Cather's life. It seems a bit simple for kids 7-10, choppy, and the illustrations, while individually pleasing for the most part, lack consistency and almost distract at times. Glad that Sarah Orne Jewett's advice to Cather is included and annoyed that Edith Lewis is referred to as Cather's "friend." In the timeline at the end of the book Lewis is called Cather's "lifelong companion."

[Vannessa Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Willa is a beautifully illustrated children’s book about author Willa Cather. Author Cather led a hard but exciting life. She travelled to many places but never forgot where home was.

What I liked about the story was how author Willa worked hard to make a living but never gave up on her dreams. Willa is a story about hope, dedication and perseverance and a great read for all ages.

[Kermit · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.8 stars

Junior biography of the interesting life of Willa Cather.

[Jana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautifully illustrated biography for readers that are ready for chapter books. As part of the American Women Writers Series, this book tells the story of an adventurous young woman from Virginia. Her family moved to the plains of Nebraska, where she met many immigrant families. She loved to listen to their stories and she longed to explore the world and write about it. Young writers can definitely find inspiration in this book, as all of her studies and travels led her back to her home in Nebraska to write simply about the things she knew best. This would be a terrific mentor text to share with students. I would love to look at the other books in the series.

[Christine (Tina) · Rating 2 out of 5]

As someone who studied comparatively both Willa Cather and Edith Wharton and someone who has taught Cather's work multiple times, this biography is incomplete and disappointing as a work introducing this woman's life & work to children. In paraphrased words of E.B. White, one shouldn't write down to children. They deserve better than that.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great biography of Willa Cather with beautiful illustrations. However, I wanted there to be a little more depth to this--it was pretty much a straight timeline of her life with very short little chapters. Still, it's a biography of a successful woman and there aren't very many good examples of those for kids

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but interesting. Makes me want to learn more about her.

[Amy Allgeier · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have waited so long to read this! I feel like some of it was a disappointment, but then the illustrations and just a general children's biography elevated it out of disappointment. Would recommend to 1st - 3rd grade readers. Loved the timeline in the back along with a great collection of women writers from Cather's time.