Paul Fleischman (1952 - ) is an American children's author. He grew up in Santa Monica, California, hearing his father,
Sid Fleischman, read his books aloud chapter by chapter, as they were written. Both have won the Newbery Medal, Sid for
The Whipping Boy in 1987, and Paul for
Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices in 1989.
At 19, after two years of college in Berkeley, Fleischman took a cross-country bicycle and train trip, ending up living in a 200-year-old house in New Hampshire. The years there, living a modified 18th century lifestyle--wood heating, no electricity or phone--kindled an interest in the past and led to his historical fiction dealing with the Puritans' Indian wars, colonial peddlers, Philadelphia's yellow fever epidemic, and other topics.
His musical interests are reflected in his collections of poems for two and four speakers. Multiple points of view and a bridging of plays and prose have been hallmarks of his work, beginning with
Bull Run, an account of the battle through the eyes of 16 different characters, continuing through
Seedfolks, the 50-voice aural collage
Seek, and
Zap, which combines seven plays into one.
Paul Fleischman's books
- Path of the Pale Horse (1983)
- Phoebe Danger, Detective (1983)
- Coming-and-Going Men (1985)
- I Am Phoenix: Poems for Two Voices (1985)
- Townsend's Warbler (1992)
- Big Talk: Poems for Four Voices (2000)
- Lost: A Story in String (2000)
- Cannibal in the Mirror (2000)
- The Animal Hedge (reillustrated) (2003)
- Graven Images (revised and reillustrated) (2006)
- Dateline: Troy (updated) (2006)
- Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal: A Worldwide Cinderella (2007)
- The Birthday Tree (reillustrated) (2008)
