Jane's novel, The Storyteller's Beads is out! The story, set in northern Ethiopia during the war and starvation of the 80s, tells the story of two girls, one Christian and one Jewish, who are suddenly thrown into a rushed escape.

Nancy Farmer, author of two acclaimed books set in Africa (most recently A GIRL NAMED DISASTER) writes, "Too often tragedies, such as the Ethiopian famine of the 80's, are lost in numbers. How can anyone comprehend a million deaths? Jane Kurtz has made the tragedy devastatingly real with her superb adventure of two courageous girls. They not only survive against all odds, but they overcome prejudices taught to them from birth. I found this an accurate, eye-witness description of real people with none of the weaknesses left out. This accuracy made the girls' friendship that much more powerful."

Suzanne Fisher Staples, whose Newbery honor novel SHABANU so vividly showed the world of a girl struggling against an arranged marriage, writes, "Jane Kurtz has recreated a world with such fine textural detail that the characters' lives touch our own poignantly and powerfully. In our fast-paced, facile world, this story of grace and dignity lends new meaning to friendship and courage. It will help readers of all ages explore another way of life that is very different from our own, with our hearts as well as our minds."

Award winning author and storyteller, Jane Yolen, comments, "Jane Kurtz has crafted a story out of history with love and in so doing makes familiar a world that is--for most of us--as unfamiliar as a fantasy land. This story of two young girls and their combined courage will linger long in my mind and heart."

Judy O'Malley, editor of BOOK LINKS says that "the spare, lyrical writing that evokes the strength and challenge of the Ethiopian countryside is still echoing for me. Jane Kurtz does a wonderful job of using traditional, cultural, and religious stories to create the context for her modern story of the political and social upheaval that wracked Northern Africa in the past several decades." She concludes her comments, "I'm sure that The Storyteller's Beads will often find its way into bibliographies in Book Links due to its strong themes of friendship, storytelling, respect for culture and tradition, and the inability of ingrained prejudice to withstand the truth and understanding that come with familiarity."

Only a Pigeon wins the Parents' Choice Gold Award

Parents' Choice is a nonprofit consumer guide to children's toys, books, software, video, and magazines that has been dedicated to helping parents select great products for their children since 1978. In 1997, about 1000 publishers and companies participated in the Parents' Choice awards competition. ONLY A PIGEON was one of the few picture books awarded a Parents' Choice Gold. The reviewer wrote, "A low-key, compelling story about an Ethiopian boy who raises homing pigeons. We accompany the 12 or 13-year-old Ondu-ahlem as he tends his brood, protecting them from attack by a mongoose or stray cat. His is a circumscribed life, but we enter it willingly, sharing its perils and triumphs. E.B. Lewis's tender watercolors transport us to Addis Ababa, with its tin-roofed houses and muddy streets. Both authors grew up in Ethiopia, and the artist traveled there to assure the authentic flavor of his pictures. The hero's name, Ondu-ahlem, means One World, and this lovely book contributes to that still elusive goal."

Jane and her family are still recovering from the flood in her home town, Grand Forks, North Dakota.

We now have a section dedicated to the flood for those of you who would like to learn more.

Flood recovery has been slow and demanding this fall. By early August, the person who owns the house that Jane Kurtz and her family lived in for eight years was still busy fixing up apartment buildings he owns. Also, a lot of confusion still existed over the possible new dike--and the house will be on the "wet side" if the new dike is built. So hardly any work had been done to fix the house. At that point, the family moved into a FEMA mobile home. Much of Grand Forks is well on the way to recovering from the flood. For the 240 families in the FEMA mobile home parks, though, things have often been discouraging.

What does Jane think? She likes being able to walk to her office. The mobile home is cozy. Since she doesn't like cleaning house, it suits her to not have much house to clean--more time to write books! The two biggest challenges are 1) trying to get three teenagers through one bathroom and off to school in time in the morning and 2) not having a garage. It makes her feel like a pioneer to have to go out and scrape the ice and snow off the car windows every morning. In the trailer, sounds spread out everywhere. When David is practicing his trumpet, someone usually complains. When the washing machine is going, the whole trailer shakes. Sometimes, no one can find a quiet corner to crawl into.

She spent six days working with the kids who used to go to Lincoln School (where her own children also went to elementary school), writing about the flood. Lincoln School, itself, was torn down this fall because it was too damaged by flood waters. And many of the children in the area had houses that were up to the rooftops in water. But the students and teachers are staying together for one last year, meeting in a Lutheran church. Every kid in grades kindergarten through eight created a book about what the flood was really like.

In September, Jane spent a few days in Trinidad, Colorado, where two of her kids were born. She had a fantastic time talking in the two schools where David, Jonathan, and Rebekah started school. "Going back home to share my new books is like finishing a circle that you started to draw a long time ago," she says. In November, she had another kind of going home: she spoke as an author in three schools in Portland, Oregon, where she was born and where most of her family lives, since coming back from Ethiopia. In between, in October, she lead a workshop at the regional IRA in Omaha, Nebraska and signed books. A freak blizzard whomped the city the last night and she and another author were stuck at the house of a kind teacher who had taken them home--no power, no telephone, and no way to get out of the driveway. Luckily, she still was able to fly out later in the afternoon, and was home by evening.

In the spring, Jane will be going to California, to the national ALA meeting in Washington DC, to the national IRA meeting in Orlando, and maybe to Ivory Coast to speak in an international school. Her first novel, THE STORYTELLER'S BEADS, will be published. And the illustrator will start work on her book about the flood, which is under contract at Simon & Schuster.

The Picture Gallery

Students from a third grade class designed their own postcards with scenes from Jane's book and then mailed their postcards to the author.

Summerville Elementary in California welcomes three authors, including Jane.

Piper Elementary and Shawnee Heights Elementary Schools spent several weeks preparing for Jane's visit. Each classroom did wonderful projects, and the librarians prepared creative displays about Ethiopia.

These kids used Jane's box of Ethiopia things to help in their study of Africa.

Questions or Comments?