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Editor of Vermont Folklife Center children’s book series, 2003—; member of editorial board, Cricket magazine. Author of introductions of books, including Flights of Fancy: Creative Inspiration from Ten Award-Winning Authors and Illustrators, Walker Books (Somerville, MA), 2019.

SIDELIGHTS

UPDATE SUBMITTED IN SGML FORMAT.

Anita Silvey worked for many years in children’s book publishing and is the editor of several influential books focusing on the field of children’s literature, The Essential Guide to Children’s Books and Their Creators, One Hundred Best Books for Children, and the inspiring essay collection Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children’s Book: Life Lessons from Notable People from All Walks of Life among them. Silvey has made her own contributions to the pool of quality nonfiction available to young readers, sharing her enthusiasm for history in I’ll Pass for Your Comrade: Women Soldiers in the Civil War, Henry Knox: Bookseller, Soldier, Patriot, and The Plant Hunters: True Stories of Their Daring Adventures to the Far Corners of the Earth. She has also created the Children’s Book-a-Day Almanac, a print and online resource that profiles new books worthy of classic status, one for every day of the year.

In I’ll Pass for Your Comrade, Silvey adds a new layer to what many students learn about the U.S. Civil War by highlighting women whose patriotic fervor inspired them to disguise themselves as men and join the fight as either a Union or Confederate soldier. Drawing on diaries and journals, letters, and contemporary newspaper accounts and wartime records, she describes how these women fared on the battlefield, where they had to keep pace in a man’s world and were under constant risk of revealing their identity. In an interview with Cynthia Leitich Smith on Smith’s website, Silvey described the volume in her own words: “In this photo-essay for fourth through six grades, I explore the stories of the thousand women soldiers who fought on both sides in the Civil War. Disguising themselves as men, they became active participants of all the Civil War battles. The book tells how they pulled off their disguises and what life was like for them during the Civil War and afterward.” Explaining why she became drawn to the subject, Silvey told Smith: “I’m an arm-chair Civil War buff and picked up De Anne Blayton’s and Lauren M. Cook’s They Fought Like Demons, … the most thorough academic study of women soldiers in the Civil War. It occurred to me that if I could find a story line, this would make ideal material for young readers.”

“Female Civil War soldiers … weren’t as rare as the history books might have you think,” announced Jonathan Hunt after appraising Silvey’s “engaging social history” in I’ll Pass for Your Comrade. Revealing “the fiery spirits of unconventional individuals,” the work also reflects its author’s “passionate interest in the Civil War,” noted a Publishers Weekly critic, and in Kirkus Reviews a contributor praised I’ll Pass for Your Comrade as a richly documented “narrative [that] takes readers to the battlefields for an immediate experience of combat.”

Illustrated by noted artist Wendell Minor, Henry Knox introduces young children to the life of a man who played a pivotal role during the American Revolution. A bookseller living in Boston, Knox grew up in an upper-class family loyal to King George of England, but his own loyalty was to the Patriot cause and at age twenty five he was an officer in the rebel army. When artillery was needed in Boston to counter a British bombardment in 1776, Knox’s bookish interest in warfare allowed him to devise a way to quickly transport over fifty heavy cannon from Fort Ticonderoga south over 300 miles of snow-covered, hilly terrain. “This is a beautifully illustrated introduction to a lesser-known Revolutionary War figure,” noted Jayne Damron in School Library Journal, while a Kirkus Reviews critic dubbed Silvey’s picture-book biography “admirably researched.” Along with quotes from contemporary accounts, “Silvey’s measured text” in Henry Knox “ably tells the tale and puts events in their historical context,” according to Carolyn Phelan in Booklist.

Silvey introduces children to a group of people who have devoted their lives to a horticultural compulsion in The Plant Hunters. Throughout history nature has produced the means for human civilization to advance, and exotic species of plants have been the source of everything from rubber, bananas, tea, and quinine to colorful tulips and exotic begonias. Spanning the globe from the Amazon to India and China, plant hunters have traveled into some of the most forbidding environments on earth in the quest to locate such plants, document their habitat, and transport seeds and seedlings a place where they can be successfully cultivated.

Praising The Plant Hunters as an “unusual book,” Phelan added in Booklist that “Silvey raises readers’ expectations for adventure tales and satisfies them.” Her “slim, engaging narrative … is smoothly written, smartly paced, and filled with exciting tales of … derring-do,” asserted a Kirkus Reviews writer, while in School Library Journal, Frances E. Millhouser wrote that the author’s saga of theft and greed, curiosity and globe-trotting gallantry are “beautifully illustrated with color reproductions of old botanic drawings and photographs.”

In Untamed: The Wild Life of Jane Goodall, Silvey profiles the celebrated conservationist and researcher of chimpanzees. In an interview with Natasha Gilmore, contributor to Publishers Weekly, Silvey discussed what she learned while researching the book, noting that she was surprised to discover that Goodall’s time with the chimps was relatively brief compared to the time she spent as an advocate for the animals and their habitat. Silvey stated: “I saw her out there with the chimps, but fifty years of her life were spent in quite a different way. What I knew of her was something that happened very early in her life. In the book, we get a well-rounded picture of her; it was important to me that we see her whole life.” Untamed features photos of Goodall and chimps from the National Geographic archive. Silvey told Smith: “A huge part of the book’s appeal is the wide range of photography.”

Silvey chronicles the life and work of another female ape researcher in Undaunted: The Wild Life of Birute Mary Galdikas and Her Fearless Quest to Save Orangutans. From the time she was young, Galdikas was always drawn to animals and insects. Her interest grew throughout her education, and she ultimately decided to live in the jungles of Borneo in order to study orangutans. Galdikas initially lived there with her first husband, but after they had a son, her husband took the child back to Canada, leaving Galdikas alone. Galdikas remarried and had more children, with whom she has continued her research and conservation advocacy. She has also established a rehabilitation program for the apes. A Publishers Weekly writer suggested that “Silvey presents a crisp portrait of a tenacious, groundbreaking scientist who has been underrepresented in books for youth.” Referring to Galdikas, Booklist reviewer J.B. Petty commented: “In telling her remarkable journey, Silvey doesn’t gloss over their hardships.” Petty described the volume as “a great addition for any animal collection.”

Among Silvey’s edited works, several have been designed for young readers. In Help Wanted: Short Stories about Young People Working she collects twelve short stories that focus on young adults and their first jobs or work-like experiences. Among the authors included are Borden Deal, Ray Bradbury, Gary Soto, Michael Dorris, and Judith Ortiz Cofer. A Publishers Weekly contributor praised the selections for “their uncommon themes, settings, and situations” and went on to note that by “defining work in broad terms, this enticing collection offers a little something for everyone.”

Silvey contributes to readers both now and in the future by providing a preferred reading list in One Hundred Best Books for Children. Here she focuses on books designed for children up to age twelve and allows only one book per author or illustrator. First reviewing other lists with a similar intent, she then interviewed over 1,000 people to find out what books made the most impact on their childhood. After devoting six months to reading hundreds of children’s books, she created plot synopses and suggestions regarding the appropriate readership age range of the reader for each book. She also includes some stories about how the books were created, told from an insider’s perspective, and an extensive “Beyond the Hundred Best” list of books that focus on special interests.

Silvey’s “long experience as a book reviewer and editor makes her list pretty much spot-on,” wrote Ilene Cooper in a Booklist review of One Hundred Best Books for Children. While several reviewers opined that any such list can only be compiled subjectively due to the wealth of children’s books available, Library Journal contributor Marianne Orme predicted that “teachers, librarians, and home-schoolers will particularly enjoy the way Silvey spices her annotations with entertaining anecdotes.”

BIOCRIT

PERIODICALS

• Booklist, November 1, 1997, Stephanie Zvirin, review of Help Wanted: Short Stories about Young People Working, p. 461; March 15, 1999, review of Help Wanted, p. 1300; November 1, 2001, Gillian Engberg, review of Help Wanted, p. 478; July, 2004, Ilene Cooper, review of One Hundred Best Books for Children, p. 1802; November 15, 2008, Carolyn Phelan, review of I’ll Pass for Your Comrade: Women Soldiers in the Civil War, p. 34; December 15, 2009, Kristen McKulski, review of Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children’s Book: Life Lessons from Notable People from All Walks of Life, p. 8; September 1, 2010, Carolyn Phelan, review of Henry Knox: Bookseller, Soldier, Patriot, p. 96; April 15, 2012, Carolyn Phelan, review of The Plant Hunters: True Stories of Their Daring Adventures to the Far Corners of the Earth, p. 54; April 15, 2019, J.B. Petty, review of Undaunted: The Wild Life of Birute Mary Galdikas and Her Fearless Quest to Save Orangutans, p. 42.

• Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, December, 2009, Deborah Stevenson, review of Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children’s Book, p. 175; May, 2012, Elizabeth Bush, review of The Plant Hunters, p. 480.

• Commentary, April, 2004, Joseph Bottum, review of One Hundred Best Books for Children, p. 68.

• Horn Book, November-December, 1997, Roger Sutton, review of Help Wanted, p. 682; January-February, 2003, Roger Sutton, review of The Essential Guide to Children’s Books and Their Creators, p. 106; July-August, 2004, Roger Sutton, review of One Hundred Best Books for Children, p. 473; January-February, 2007, Roger Sutton, review of 500 Great Books for Teens, p. 89; January-February, 2009, Jonathan Hunt, review of I’ll Pass for Your Comrade, p. 121.

• Kirkus Reviews, November 15, 2008, review of I’ll Pass for Your Comrade; October 1, 2010, review of Henry Knox; March 1, 2012, review of The Plant Hunters; March 15, 2019, review of Undaunted.

• Library Journal, October 1, 2002, Kelli Perkins, review of The Essential Guide to Children’s Books and Their Creators, p. 81; April 1, 2004, Marianne Orme, review of One Hundred Best Books for Children, p. 94.

• Publishers Weekly, June 17, 1996, Amy Meeker, interview with Silvey, p. 26; August 4, 1997, review of Help Wanted, p. 76; October 21, 2002, review of The Essential Guide to Children’s Books and Their Creators, p. 77; December 22, 2008, review of I’ll Pass for Your Comrade, p. 53; April 15, 2019, review of Undaunted, p. 71.

• School Library Journal, March, 2003, Suzanne Crowder, review of The Essential Guide to Children’s Books and Their Creators, p. 263; January, 2010, Marie Orlando, review of Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children’s Book, p. 132; December, 2010, Jayne Damron, review of Henry Knox, p. 141; June, 2012, Frances E. Millhouser, review of The Plant Hunters, p. 143.

• Teacher Librarian, October, 2004, Teri Lesesne, “Keeping Books Alive” (interview), p. 47.

• Voice of Youth Advocates, February, 2010, Christina Fairman, review of Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children’s Book, p. 522.

ONLINE

• Anita Silvey website, http://www.anitasilvey.com (August 20, 2019).

• Anita Silvey’s Children’s Book-a-Day Almanac, http://childrensbookalmanac.com (September 1, 2013).

• Cynthia Leitich Smith website, https://cynthialeitichsmith.com/ (December, 2008), Cynthia Leitich Smith, author interview.

• Horn Book, http://www.hbook.com/ (February 25, 2005), “Anita Silvey.”

• Publishers Weekly, https://www.publishersweekly.com/ (June 16, 2015), Natasha Gilmore, author interview.