SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: Star Brother
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://www.maxineroseschur.com/
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: SATA 397
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born October 21, 1948, in San Francisco, CA.
EDUCATION:University of California—Berkeley, B.A., 1971; Stanford University, M.L.A., 1999.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, film editor, actor, software designer, and consultant. New Zealand National Film Unit, Wellington, New Zealand, film editor, 1972-75; actress in television program Close to Home, New Zealand Broadcasting Corp. and Downstage Theater; freelance writer, 1977—; Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., staff writer, 1978-82; Wordwright, cofounder and educational software designer, 1981-84; corporate marketing communications manager, 1988-92, became marketing communications consultant; Addison Wesley Publishing Company, children’s creative writer; author of story and play scripts for Scholastic, Houghton Mifflin, Pleasant Co., Hampton Brown, Radio New Zealand, Cricket, Heinemann, and the PLAYSCHOOL (BBC); San Francisco Writing Salon, San Francisco, CA, instructor; The Write Bank, Paris, France, workshop instructor. Baker-Nord Guest Lecturer on Children’s Literature in the Humanities, Case Western Reserve University. San Francisco Writing Salon, teacher of children’s book writing.
AVOCATIONS:Reading, traveling, visiting art museums.
MEMBER:Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, PEN, Authors Guild, Society of American Travel Writers, Business Marketing Association.
AWARDS:Work-in-Progress Grant, Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, 1981, for The Circlemaker; nominee, National Jewish Book Award, 1987, for Hannah Szenes: A Song of Light; Louis B. Dessauer Grant, 1994; Parents’ Choice Award, 1994, for Day of Delight; Sydney Taylor Award, Association of Jewish Libraries, 1997, and Sugarman Family Award, Washington, DC Jewish Community, 1997, both for When I Left My Village; National Jewish Book Award finalist, 1997, Notable Book, American Social Studies Council, 1998, Outstanding Book for a Global Society, International Reading Association, 1998, and Hoosier Award finalist, 1999, all for Sacred Shadows; Sydney Taylor Award, Top One Hundred Titles, New York Public Library, Best Book List, Smithsonian, and California Reader, all 2000, all for The Peddler’s Gift; Best Travel Book of the Year, North American Travel Journalists Association, and Gold Award for Best Book, Society of American Travel Writers, 2005, for Places in Time; two-time winner of Lowell Thomas Award, Society of American Travel Writers; Northern Lights Book ward for Picture Book, 2019, for Marielle in Paris; Best Picture Book, Northern California Book Reviewers Association, 2020, for Brave with Beauty.
WRITINGS
Contributor to travel guides and books, including Wanderlust: Real-life Tales of Adventure and Romance, edited by Don George, Random House, 2001; and Paris in Mind: Three Centuries of Americans Writing about Paris, edited by Jennifer Lee, Vintage Books, 2003. Contributor of articles and reviews to periodicals, including Americas, Australia/New Zealand Bookworld, Carribean Travel and Life, Christian Science Monitor, Escape, Los Angeles Times, Insight Guides, LION, National Geographic Explorer, Salon.com, San Diego Union-Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner, Salon.com, and World Nomads.
A sound recording of Samantha’s Surprise: A Christmas Story was produced by Pleasant Co., 1986; a sound recording of Day of Delight, read by Gregory Hines, was produced by The Jewish Community Library of Los Angeles Public Radio Series, 2002; The Peddler’s Gift was read by Gregory Hines for National Public Radio.
SIDELIGHTS
An author of both picture books and historical novels, Maxine Rose Schur has set her writing against such diverse backgrounds as mid-nineteenth-century Russia, the rural highlands of Ethiopia, and prewar Poland. Many of her books feature Jewish characters whose lives, placed against these diverse backgrounds, illuminate the Jewish past and add to the understanding and compassion of contemporary readers. Among Schur’s award-winning works for young readers are The Circlemaker and Day of Delight: A Jewish Sabbath in Ethiopia, both published in 1994, Sacred Shadows, published in 1997, Day of Delight ‘s sequel, When I Left My Village, and the 1999 title The Peddler’s Gift. Schur has continued to write over two dozen popular works for young readers, including Marielle in Paris, the 2020 middle-grade novel, The Word Dancer, the 2022 work, Child of the Sea, with illustrations by Milanka Reardon, and the 2024 young adult fantasy novel, Star Brother.
As a child, Schur had what she later termed the “good fortune” to contract rheumatic fever, which required a long period of rest as she recovered. During this time she learned to read and to enjoy books, with no television to distract her. Her favorite books were those that transported her to far-off places or back in time: Black Beauty, Heidi, Little Women, Little Lord Fauntleroy, and Anne of Green Gables, among others. These books strongly influenced Schur’s career as a writer in the decades to come: she still enjoys writing books set in different historical periods.
Despite her early love of books, Schur did not plan to be a writer. Graduating from high school in the mid-1960s, she majored in drama and received a degree in dramatic arts from the University of California—Berkeley. Soon after graduation, she married and set out with her husband on a trip around the world for a year and a half, traveling by bus, train, car, donkey, truck, and tramp steamer during an adventure that took them to over forty countries. In 1972 the Schurs began a five-year stopover in Wellington, New Zealand, where Schur became a documentary and feature film editor, children’s book critic, and actress. Schur began to write, first about the adventures she and her husband had in southern Turkey. These autobiographical writings were made into story books illustrated by the Caldecott Award-winning illustrator Victor Ambrus.
Returning with her husband to the United States in 1977, Schur was unsure about what direction her life should take. Now a mother with a small child at home, she quickly realized that writing was a more practical occupation than acting, so she began taking on freelance writing assignments. A year later Schur was hired as an in-house writer for Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.
In 1981 Schur and a partner founded Wordwright, a company that created educational software for young people. Schur later began work as a marketing communications manager for the high-tech industry. For several years she balanced her growing responsibilities with her writing projects, still managing to find time to work on several children’s book projects, including Shnook the Peddler and Hannah Szenes: A Song of Light. Finally, after three of her books were sold to Dial in quick succession— The Circlemaker, Day of Delight, and When I Left My Village —Schur was able to return to her writing full-time.
Characteristic of Schur’s work is Hannah Szenes, a biography of the World War II resistance fighter and poet who was executed for treason in 1944 at the age of twenty-three. Nominated for the National Jewish Book Award, the book is based on the diaries of Szenes, whose idealism prompted her to parachute into war-torn Hungary to aid resistance fighters during the Nazi takeover of Europe. In her 1997 book Sacred Shadows, Schur describes the life of a German Jew living in Poland between the two world wars. Reviewing that novel in Booklist, Hazel Rochman noted that Schur “combines one person’s coming-of-age story with a strong sense of the time.” Rochman concluded that the account in Sacred Shadows of what is was like to grow up Jewish during this time is “most compelling.” A critic for Kirkus Reviews also found much to like in Schur’s novel, concluding: “The novel offers readers a moving glimpse of how public opinion set the stage for genocide.”
In The Circlemaker, readers are introduced to twelve-year-old Mendel, a Russian Jew living in the Ukraine who disguises his Jewish heritage and flees from the Russian soldiers who have come to his town to conscript children for service in the czar’s army. The year is 1852, and Mendel, along with fellow runaway Dovid, must make it to the Hungarian border without being caught. The Circlemaker is not only a story of a boy taking on the moral responsibilities of adulthood but “an exciting story of terror and disguise, of leaving home and outwitting the enemy,” according to Rochman, writing in Booklist. A Publishers Weekly commentator, who gave the book a starred review, called The Circlemaker an “atmospheric and suspenseful” work that “maintains an edge-of-the-seat tension until the very last words.” A critic for Kirkus Reviews wrote, “The genuinely evoked setting and the plucky boy’s narrow escapes compel attention.” In Booklist, a reviewer commented that the book “combines fast-paced adventure with a compelling sense of history.” Susan Faust, writing in the San Francisco Examiner, called it a “gripping children’s novel” that is “taut and tender … pages seem to turn themselves.”
Two books that reveal a less familiar Jewish world are Schur’s award-winning Day of Delight and When I Left My Village. Both books focus on black African Jews who inherited Jewish traditions many centuries ago while living in the remote Gondar province of Ethiopia. Their culture was so isolated from the rest of the world that many Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews) did not even realize that other Jews existed in the world. Unfortunately, the famine that plagued their country in the 1980s forced many of the Beta Israel to leave for the Sudan and Israel, and many of the old ways were lost. In Day of Delight, Schur records these traditions, including the weekly preparations for what the Beta Israel call the “Day of Delight,” the Sabbath. Described from the point of view of a ten-year-old boy named Menelik, the story is “an economical evocation of an entire way of life,” according to a reviewer in Publishers Weekly, who called the book “fascinating.” A reviewer in School Library Journal called this book “a gem,” and Horn Book contributor Hanna Zeiger wrote that Day of Delight is “simply and tenderly told, a beautifully crafted book.” Day of Delight won the 1994 parent’s choice award, the Smithsonian Best Book of the Year citation, and was a finalist for the Sydney Taylor Award.
The exodus of Menelik’s family to Israel in the face of famine and civil war is brought to life in When I Left My Village, a 1996 book that Maria Salvadore described in Horn Book as “provocative and emotional … a riveting family story.” A reviewer in Publishers Weekly noted that the book featured “writing with pathos deepened by memorable imagery. A trenchant sequel.” A contributor to Kirkus Reviews noted, “With great artistry, Schur weaves history, adventure, and family drama into a polished narrative.” When I Left My Village was awarded the 1997 Sydney Taylor Award by the Association of Jewish Libraries for the most outstanding contribution to Jewish children’s literature.
With The Peddler’s Gift, Schur presents another aspect of Jewish culture in a new version of a wise fool story set in a shtetl. Everyone believes Shimon the peddler is a simpleton. One night young Leibush steals a dreidel from him, but racked with guilt, he tracks Shimon down alone in the synagogue to return the stolen item. There Leibush discovers Shimon’s secret. Far from being the fool that everyone takes him for, Shimon is, in the words of Booklist contributor Rochman, “wise, strong, and kind.” A reviewer in School Library Journal explained, “This gentle story is written with a fine folkloric tone that evokes both the richness and simplicity of a time long past.” A contributor to Publishers Weekly praised the book’s “poignantly handled themes about forgiveness” and further applauded Schur’s “colorful delivery and scene-setting,” which “give her message a fresh impact.” Kathleen Burke of the Smithsonian Magazine wrote, “This nuanced portrait of shtetl life opens a window onto a lost world.” In the Atlantic Journal and Constitution, Julie Bookman praised the book as “A season standout!” and Faust of the San Francisco Examiner noted, “Schur writes with poetic grace … with color and depth, making a painful incident poignant and underscoring some of life’s elusive lessons.” The Peddler’s Gift earned the Sydney Taylor Award, making Schur the only author to win this prestigious award twice.
Schur offers readers somewhat more whimsical fare in her picture book Gullible Gus, illustrated by Andrew Glass. Following the doctor’s orders to cure his gullibility, Gus travels to Fibrock to hear three tall tales from the renowned Hokum Malarkey to sharpen his lie-detecting ability. The tales of a town’s perilous overconsumption of Smart Syrup, a chair-befriending man named Cantankerous Clem, and a crime-predicting sheriff named Backwards Hannah are outlandish indeed, but the truth catches Gus off-guard in the end. Relishing the abundance of exaggeration and alliteration in the tall tales, Nancy Baumann in School Library Journal affirmed that this “appealing” book “will have kids laughing.” A Kirkus Reviews writer likewise concluded, “This darn good yarn will have kids galloping through the pages.”
In There’s a Babirusa in My Bathtub! Fact and Fancy about Curious Creatures, Schur offers prose descriptions of thirteen little-known creatures, including the civet, hagfish, and okapi, as well as a lyrical poem for each. The book concludes with lists of hidden objects to find in the illustrations and additional activities for caregivers. In School Library Journal, S. McClendon noted that “the text is lively and interesting, and the poems … are fun to share aloud.”
Brave with Beauty: A Story of Afghanistan is a folkloric fictionalization of the life of Goharshad, a historical queen from some seven hundred years ago. Fond of painting as a child, Goharshad is married to a king at the age of fourteen, and she makes the aesthetic improvement of the empire’s capital city of Herat her life mission. Over the years, she summons and supports musicians, creates a beautiful garden, and collaborates with the court architect on several important edifices, including a girls’ college, a mosque, and an enormous library. As the decades pass, war comes to the city and leaves most of Goharshad’s cultural contributions in ruins. In School Library Journal, Margaret Bush called Brave with Beauty a “pleasant, romanticized introduction to an impressive person, places, and time.”
Marielle in Paris, with illustrations by Jeanne B. De Sainte Marie, tells the story of a mouse named Marielle who has a particular talent for dressmaking. She has created nine lovely dresses for the nine daughters of Madame Sooree. Exhausted, she goes to bed and sleeps deeply, But upon awakening in the morning, she discovers to her horror that the dresses are all gone. There is no time to lose, as the dresses are due. Her friend, Pierre the pigeon offers to take her on ride over the rooftops of Paris to find the missing garments, and now Marielle must overcome her fear of heights to recover these missing party dresses. A Children’s Bookwatch contributor termed Marielle in Paris a “simply delightful picture book,” and concluded that it is “certain to become an enduringly popular addition.”
Schur’s 2020 middle-grade fantasy novel, The Word Dancer, finds the young orphan, Wynnfrith, in a desperate situation. Traitors have taken over the kingdom of Wisland, and now Wynfrith, who was raised at court, must flee with the five-year-old Crown Prince Oliver. They have to reach safety and stay out of the clutches of the cruel Ugsome family. Wynnfrith is aided in this perilous journey with the secret incantations of Mistress Plummety Peache, and above all else by the mysterious Word Dancer who teaches her how important it is to use not only the power of her head, but also her heart, in order to impart the full power of words. Once she understands how to unleash this power, she can defeat all the enemies of Wisland and also tap into the bravery that dwells within her. Reviewing the novel in Children’s Bookwatch, Diana Perry called The Word Dancer a “terrific book filled with delightful and unique characters and visual settings.”
Schur’s 2022 picture book, Child of the Sea, is an original folk story about a fisherman who finds a baby girl in his net one day at sea. When he brings her home, his wife is overjoyed, for now their eternal wish for a child has been fulfilled. But as the baby, Merella, grows up, she has a secret longing for the sea, her true home, and now the aging parents must show their true love for Merella. Christine Irvin, reviewing the picture book in Children’s Bookwatch, felt that Child of the Sea is “sure to become a favorite book for many.”
Schur divides her time between her travel writing, children’s books, teaching at conferences, and consulting work. She enjoys talking to her readers—especially her young readers—at bookstores, libraries, conferences, and schools. She travels the world as a travel writer and also still likes to experiment with game ideas and designs for gift products—she’s developed calendars, bookmarks, and journals.
Schur takes special joy in sharing the knowledge she has gained from writing so many picture books and novels. In her teaching she often serves as a guest lecturer and also teaches children’s book writing at the San Francisco Writing Salon. In an interview on the VIVIAN KIRKFIELD-Writer for Children website, Schur commented on this work: “I have found that teaching the wisdom I’ve gained over my years in writing children’s books helps me reinforce the tips and techniques for myself. Teaching has made me more mindful in my own writing.”
(open new)Star Brother is a young adult fantasy novel. Sixteen-year-old Nevada high school student Jason Atwood won the science fair with his lifelike holograms. As a result, he is awarded a full scholarship to MIT, a dream come true for the orphaned teen who grew up in foster care. He meets an older man named Roy Calvert who claims to be his twin brother. Despite the age difference, Jason acknowledges that they really are quite similar and have a deep appreciation for the universe and its stars. Jason and Roy go on a road trip to get to know each other better and find out their shared origins.
A Kirkus Reviews contributor admitted that the author “succeeds in combining science fiction elements with a heartfelt storyline.” Nevertheless, the critic found that some scenes near the end felt “rushed.” Overall, the Kirkus Reviews contributor called the young adult novel “a wild ride with plenty of heart.”(close new)
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Atlantic Journal and Constitution, December 4, 1999, Julie Bookman, review of The Peddler’s Gift.
Booklist, January 15, 1994, Hazel Rochman, review of The Circlemaker, p. 919; October 1, 1994, Stephanie Zvirin, review of Day of Delight: A Jewish Sabbath in Ethiopia, p. 334; February 15, 1996, Stephanie Zvirin, review of When I Left My Village, p. 1023; September 15, 1997, Hazel Rochman, review of Sacred Shadows, p. 224; October 1, 1999, Hazel Rochman, review of The Peddler’s Gift, p. 375.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, October 1, 1986, Betsy Hearne, review of Hannah Szenes: A Song of Light, p. 36.
Children’s Bookwatch, January 1, 2018, review of Marielle in Paris; March 1, 2020, Diana Perry, review of Word Dancer; July 1, 2022, Christine Irvin, review of Child of the Sea.
Children’s Literature, July 23, 1988, Jan Lieberman, review of Sacred Shadows.
Contra Costa Times, October 15, 1997, Judith Rose, review of Sacred Shadows.
Horn Book, November 1, 1994, Hanna B. Zeiger, review of Day of Delight, p. 747; May 1, 1996, Maria B. Salvadore, review of When I Left My Village, p. 333.
Kemper County Messenger, December 21, 1995, Brook Sledge, review of The Marvelous Maze.
Kirkus Reviews, January 1, 1994, review of The Circlemaker; December 15, 1995, Grace A. De Candido, review of When I Left My Village; October 15, 1997, review of Sacred Shadows, p. 1588; June 15, 2009, review of Gullible Gus; July 15, 2019, review of Brave with Beauty: A Story of Afghanistan; July 1, 2024, review of Star Brother.
Library Journal, February 15, 2006, Lisa N. Johnston, review of Places in Time: Reflections on a Journey, p. 139.
Publishers Weekly, December 6, 1993, review of The Circlemaker, p. 73; September 5, 1994, review of Day of Delight, p. 110; January 8, 1996, review of When I Left My Village, p. 70; August 11, 1997, review of Sacred Shadows, p. 403; September 27, 1999, review of The Peddler’s Gift, p. 52; June 27, 2005, review of The Story of Ruth, p. 67.
San Francisco Examiner, December 12, 1993, Susan Faust, review of The Circlemaker; November 28, 1999, Susan Faust, review of The Peddler’s Gift.
School Library Journal, February 1, 1994, Ann Welton, review of The Circlemaker, p. 104; October 1, 1994, Loretta Kreider, review of Day of Delight; March 1, 1996, Susan Scheps, review of When I Left My Village, p. 198; December 1, 1997, Ellen Fader, review of Sacred Shadows, p. 131; October 1, 1999, Teri Markson, review of The Peddler’s Gift, p. 72; July 1, 2009, S. McClendon, review of There’s a Babirusa in My Bathtub! Fact and Fancy about Curious Creatures, p. 74; December 1, 2009, Nancy Baumann, review of Gullible Gus, p. 91; December 1, 2019, Margaret Bush, review of Brave with Beauty, p. 74.
Smithsonian Magazine, November 1, 1999, Kathleen Burke, review of The Peddler’s Gift.
Spalding University Library Journal, August 1, 1996, review of The Marvelous Maze.
Story Monsters Ink, March 1, 2020, Diana Perry, review of The Word Dancer; July 1, 2022, Christsine Irvin, review of Child of the Sea, p. 52.
ONLINE
Authors Guild website, https://go.authorsguild.org/ (March 10, 2023), author profile.
KidLit 411, http://www.kidlit411.com/ (October 21, 2022), author interview.
Maxine Rose Schur website, http://www.maxineroseschur.com (February 2, 2025).
Sambasivan & Parikh, https://www.sambasivanandparikh.com/ (February 2, 2025), author profile.
Vivian Kirkfield-Writer for Children, https://viviankirkfield.com/ (October 23, 2021), “Maxine Rose Schur and Stephanie Wildman: Will Write for Cookies Plus Giveaway.”
World Nomads, https://www.worldnomads.com/ (March 10, 2023), “Meet Maxine Rose Schur: Travel Writer.”
No bio.
Maxine Rose Schur
California, USA
Maxine Rose Schur is an award-winning author of books for children. As the recipient of the Joan G. Sugarman Award given by the Washington Independent Writer's Legal and Educational Fund, Ms Schur was the Baker-Nord Guest Lecturer on Writing for Children to the Humanities faculty at Case Western Reserve University.
Bookography:
Brave with Beauty: A Story of Afghanistan (Advanced Picture Book, 2019; Yali Books/Sambasivan & Parikh)
Star Brother (Middle Grade, 2024; Snowy Wings Publishing)
A Tale of Bread and Thread (Picture Book, 2024; Lawley Publishing)
The Word Dancer (Middle Grade, 2023; Snowy Wings Publishing)
Head Over to Maxine's Website
Schur, Maxine Rose STAR BROTHER Snowy Wings Publishing (Teen None) $22.99 8, 13 ISBN: 9781958051573
Sixteen-year-old Jason Atwood shocked everyone at his Nevada high school by winning the science fair with his highly realistic holograms.
This upset is a precursor to a full-ride scholarship to MIT for Jason, an orphan in the foster care system who's hardened by trauma and resistant to love. When a strange older man named Roy Calvert approaches him claiming to be his twin brother, Jason can't believe Roy's outrageous narrative. But as it turns out, Roy and Jason are remarkably similar. They both feel as if they belong to a universe in which we can learn a lot from the stars. They both understand loneliness and must learn to heal together, so a road trip with Roy is the perfect opportunity for Jason to bond with his brother. The book requires some suspension of disbelief, but it's a page-turner: As Jason and Roy unravel the shocking mystery of their origins, long-lost letters and documents and a secret code help them piece together the truth. Schur intersperses snippets from the past into the main storyline, expanding on the backstory. Jason's trauma responses are realistically and empathetically written. Despite a rushed series of events at the end and an explanation that feels like it comes out of nowhere, the book ultimately succeeds in combining science fiction elements with a heartfelt storyline. Major characters read white.
A wild ride with plenty of heart. (Science fiction. 13-18)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Schur, Maxine Rose: STAR BROTHER." Kirkus Reviews, 1 July 2024, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A799332947/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=ddbe5edf. Accessed 11 Nov. 2024.