Doris Buchanan Smith
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Doris Buchanan Smith | |
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| Born | June 1, 1934 |
| Died | August 8, 2002 (aged 68) |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | 1973–2002 |
| Genre | Children's literature |
| Notable works | A Taste of Blackberries, 1973, Return to Bitter Creek, 1986, Last Was Lloyd, 1981, Voyages, 1989 |
| Notable awards | ALA Notable Children's Book, Georgia Children's Author of the Year, Georgia Children's Book Award, Georgia Author of the Year, Josette Frank Award, Parents' Choice Award, Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, Zilveren Griffel |
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| Website | |
| www | |
Doris Buchanan Smith (June 1, 1934 – August 8, 2002) was an American author of award-winning Children's books, including A Taste of Blackberries (HarperCollins, 1973).[1][2][3]
Doris Buchanan Smith's, A Taste of Blackberries (HarperCollins, 1973), earned critical acclaim as well as comparisons with Charlotte's Web (HarperCollins, 1952).[4] In the early 1970s, along with authors such as Katherine Paterson and Judy Blume, Smith established "a solid reputation for accessible fiction with serious themes."[5] A Taste of Blackberries "deals honestly and emphatically with the range of emotions," wrote Cynthia Westway in The Atlanta Journal, 1973, "... the story is not, however an elegy; but a celebration of the continuity of the life-death cycle."[6] David Rees, in The Times Literary Supplement, 1975, declared, "It will be difficult to find a children's book this autumn by a new author as good as Doris Buchanan Smith's A Taste of Blackberries."[7] "It blazed the way for the many other grief books that quickly followed, but few have approached the place of honor this one holds," wrote Jim Trelease in The Read-Aloud Handbook (Penguin, Sixth Edition, 2006).[8]
A Taste of Blackberries won the Josette Frank Award, the Georgia Children's Book Award, and the Best Children's Book Prize for a translated work in the Netherlands (Zilveren Griffel). It is an ALA Notable Children's Book, a Newbery Medal finalist, and has been translated into Dutch, Danish, French, Spanish, and Japanese. In a review for the School Library Journal (2002), Ann Welton wrote that Smith's book is "rightfully viewed, along with Katherine Paterson's Bridge to Terabithia, 1977, as one of the seminal children's books on the subject of death."[9]
Return to Bitter Creek, 1986, received the Parents' Choice Award, and was named a School Library Journal and Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year. Last Was Lloyd, 1981, was a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. Smith also wrote Voyages,[10] 1980, The First Hard Times, 1983 and The Pennywhistle Tree, 1991, all named ALA Notable Children's Books by the American Library Association. Smith's last published work was Remember the Red-Shouldered Hawk, in 1994.
