E. L. Konigsburg facts for kids

Elaine Lobl Konigsburg (born February 10, 1930 – died April 19, 2013) was an American writer and artist. She wrote and illustrated many popular books for children and young adults. She is one of only six writers to win the important Newbery Medal twice. The Newbery Medal is a top award from the American Library Association. It celebrates the best children's book published in America each year.

Konigsburg sent her first two books to a publisher in 1966. Both were published in 1967: Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. She made history by winning the Newbery Medal for Mixed-Up Files and being a runner-up for Jennifer, Hecate in the same year! She won the Newbery Medal again in 1997 for her book The View from Saturday. This was 29 years after her first win, the longest gap between two Newbery awards for one author. In 2006, she was nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, a big international award for children's book creators.

About E. L. Konigsburg's Life

Elaine Lobl was born in New York City on February 10, 1930. She grew up in small towns in Pennsylvania. She was the second of three daughters. Her parents were immigrants who moved from New York City.

Early Life and Education

Elaine loved to read, even though reading was not always encouraged in her family. She was the top student in her high school class in Farrell, Pennsylvania. To pay for college, she worked as a bookkeeper at a meat plant. There, she met David Konigsburg, who she would later marry.

Elaine went to Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She studied chemistry because she was good at it. She was the first person in her family to earn a college degree, graduating in 1952.

Family and Career Beginnings

After college, Elaine married David. She started graduate school for chemistry but then moved to Jacksonville, Florida, with David. She worked as a science teacher at a girls' school until 1955.

Between 1955 and 1959, she had three children: Paul, Laurie, and Ross. After her first two children were born, she started painting in adult education classes. She planned to write when all her children were in school.

Becoming a Writer

In 1962, her family moved to Port Chester, New York. There, she continued her art lessons. She began to write in the mornings when her third child started school. Her first published story, Jennifer, Hecate, was inspired by her daughter Laurie's experience as a new girl in Port Chester.

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler was inspired by her children. They complained about a picnic, even though it had many comforts from home. She thought that if they ever ran away, they would choose a fancy place like the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Konigsburg learned about her first two books winning awards in 1968 while moving back to Jacksonville. She often found inspiration from her surroundings. For example, ideas for The View From Saturday came to her during a walk on the beach.

Besides her longer books, Konigsburg also wrote and illustrated three picture books in the 1990s. These books, Samuel Todd's Book of Great Colors, Samuel Todd's Book of Great Inventions, and Amy Elizabeth Explores Bloomingdale's, featured her own grandchildren.

Personal Life and Legacy

Elaine married David Konigsburg in 1952. They had three children. By 2002, she had five grandchildren, including Samuel Todd and Amy Elizabeth. Her husband, David, passed away in 2001.

Konigsburg died in Falls Church, Virginia, on April 19, 2013, at age 83. She had a stroke a week before. She lived in Jacksonville, Florida, and Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, for many years.

Themes in Her Books

Many of Konigsburg's stories are about challenges children and teens face. Her characters often try to find answers to big questions about who they are. These stories are easy for school-age readers to understand.

Inspiration for Her Characters

Many of her characters and their struggles came from her own childhood. She also used observations from her time as a teacher and from her own children's experiences.

She noticed that some students who seemed to "have it all" were actually unhappy inside. She realized her own children, who lived comfortable lives, also faced inner struggles. She wanted to write about "their kind of growing up." She explored problems that come up even when you don't have to worry about basic needs.

What Kids Want

Konigsburg believed that kids always want two opposite things. They want to be like everyone else, but they also want to be unique. She said they want to be accepted for both sides of themselves.

Books by E. L. Konigsburg

Konigsburg wrote many books. Those she illustrated herself are marked with "(illus. ELK)". She once said that Father's Arcane Daughter was sometimes her favorite book. She also said she would most like to meet Eleanor of Aquitaine. Her books have been translated into many languages.

• Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth (1967), illus. ELK
• From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1967), illus. ELK
• About the B'nai Bagels (1969), illus. ELK
• (George) (1970), illus. ELK
• Altogether, One at a Time (1971), a collection of short stories
• A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver (1973), illus. ELK, a historical novel about Eleanor of Aquitaine
• The Dragon in the Ghetto Caper (1974), illus. ELK
• The Second Mrs. Giaconda (1975), a historical novel about Leonardo da Vinci
• Father's Arcane Daughter (1976)
• Throwing Shadows (1979), a collection of short stories
• Journey to an 800 Number (1982)
• Up from Jericho Tel (1986)
• Samuel Todd's Book of Great Colors (1990), a picture book, illus. ELK
• Samuel Todd's Book of Great Inventions (1991), a picture book, illus. ELK
• Amy Elizabeth Explores Bloomingdale's (1992), a picture book, illus. ELK
• T-Backs, T-Shirts, COAT, and Suit (1993)
• TalkTalk: A Children's Book Author Speaks to Grown-ups (1995), a collection of her speeches
• The View from Saturday (1996)
• Silent to the Bone (2000)
• The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place (2004)
• The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World (2007)

Movies and Plays Based on Her Books

Besides audiobooks, four of Konigsburg's novels have been made into movies or plays.

• From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler:
  • A 1973 film starring Ingrid Bergman.
  • A 1995 film starring Lauren Bacall made for television.
• Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth: A 1973 television movie called "Jennifer and Me".
• The Second Mrs. Giaconda: A play produced in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1976.
• Father's Arcane Daughter: A 1990 television movie called "Caroline?".

Awards and Recognition

E. L. Konigsburg received many awards for her writing.

• Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth: Newbery Honor in 1968.
• From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler:
  • Newbery Medal in 1968.
  • Named to the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award list in 1968.
  • Won the William Allen White Children's Book Award in 1970.
• The View from Saturday: Newbery Medal in 1997.
• In 1995, she received an honorary membership from Phi Beta Kappa at Carnegie Mellon University.
• In 1999, she received the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award from Carnegie Mellon University.

Two of her books were finalists for the National Book Award for "Children's" books. These were A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver in 1974 and Throwing Shadows in 1980. A Proud Taste was a runner-up for the Phoenix Award in 1993. Throwing Shadows won the Phoenix Award in 1999. This award celebrates great children's books published 20 years earlier that did not win a major award at the time. It is named after the mythical bird phoenix, which rises from its ashes, showing how the winning book became famous later on.

See also

In Spanish: E. L. Konigsburg para niños