Sid Fleischman facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Sid Fleischman
Born	Avron Zalmon Fleischman March 16, 1920 Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died	March 17, 2010(2010-03-17) (aged 90) Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Occupation	Writer, magician
Alma mater	San Diego State University
Genre	Children's literature, comic novels
Subject	Stage magic
Notable awards	Newbery Medal 1987 Horn Book Award 1979
Spouse	Betty Taylor (d. 1993)
Children	Paul Fleischman Jane Fleischman Anne Fleischman Miller

Albert Sidney "Sid" Fleischman (March 16, 1920 – March 17, 2010) was a famous American writer known for his exciting and funny books for kids. He won important awards like the Newbery Medal for his book The Whipping Boy. Another one of his popular books was Humbug Mountain. There's even an award named after him, the Sid Fleischman Award, which celebrates funny books for young readers!

Sid Fleischman was born on March 16, 1920, in Brooklyn, New York. His family later moved to San Diego and Santa Monica, California, where he grew up. He studied at San Diego State University. Sid Fleischman was married to Betty Taylor from 1952 until she passed away in 1993. They had three children, and his son Paul also became a Newbery Medal-winning writer. They are the only father and son to both win this special award. Sid Fleischman passed away on March 17, 2010, in Santa Monica, California, just one day after his 90th birthday.

Becoming a Writer and Magician

Sid Fleischman, whose birth name was Avron Zalmon Fleischman, was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1920. When he was two years old, his family moved to San Diego, California. As a young boy, he saw his first stage magic show. This sparked a lifelong interest in magic that would appear in many of his books.

He learned magic tricks from library books and from local magicians. He even invented new tricks! While still in high school, he started performing magic professionally. He toured California with a friend and performed in nightclubs. He also traveled across the country with a "Spook Show" during the last days of vaudeville, a type of entertainment with many different acts.

In 1941, Fleischman joined the U.S. Navy Reserve. He served as a Yeoman on a destroyer escort ship called the USS Albert T. Harris. He served near the Philippines, Borneo, and China until 1946. After his time in the Navy, he graduated from San Diego State University in 1949 with a degree in English.

His Writing Journey

Writing for Adults and Movies

When he was 19, Sid Fleischman published his first book, Between Cocktails. It was a collection of magic tricks using paper matches. After college, he worked as a reporter for a newspaper called the San Diego Daily Journal. He wrote about many different things, from crime stories to politics.

After the newspaper closed, he started writing fiction. He used his experiences as a reporter, his knowledge of magic, and his time in the Pacific during World War II to write adventure novels. Many of these stories were set in the Far East.

One of his novels, Blood Alley, caught the attention of a movie director named William Wellman. Wellman hired Fleischman to turn his book into a movie script. This led Fleischman to move to Santa Monica, where he lived for the rest of his life. It also began his long career in Hollywood. After Blood Alley was made into a movie starring John Wayne, Fleischman worked on several other film projects. He also adapted his own novel Yellowleg into a movie called The Deadly Companions. Later, he worked with actor Kirk Douglas on movies like Scalawag.

For kids, he wrote scripts for "The Bloodhound Gang" parts of the educational TV show 3–2–1 Contact. He also wrote the movie script for his own book, The Whipping Boy, which was released as Prince Brat and the Whipping Boy.

Writing Fun Books for Kids

Sid Fleischman started writing books for children by trying out his stories on his own three kids. His first children's book was Mr. Mysterious & Company (1962). It was about a traveling magician's family in the old West. This book was the first of many children's stories that used his love for magic and history.

His book By the Great Horn Spoon! was about the California Gold Rush. It was even made into a movie called The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin. Other books like The Ghost in the Noonday Sun, Chancy and the Grand Rascal, Jingo Django, and Humbug Mountain (written between 1965 and 1978) turned historical facts into exciting fiction. These stories featured pirates, rafting on the Ohio River, American Gypsies, and traveling printers.

He also wrote a series of books about Josh McBroom and his family's amazing one-acre farm. These stories used ideas from American tall tales. Later, his books explored places like England (The Whipping Boy), Asia (The White Elephant), and Mexico (The Dream Stealer). After writing his own life story, The Abracadabra Kid: A Writer's Life (1996), he enjoyed writing nonfiction. He then wrote biographies about famous people like Harry Houdini, Mark Twain, and Charlie Chaplin.

His Personal Life

Sid Fleischman and his wife Betty had three children. His son, Paul Fleischman, also became a children's book author. They are the only parent and child to both win the Newbery Medal. This is a very old and respected award from the American Library Association. It recognizes the "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children" each year.

Sid Fleischman kept his interest in magic throughout his life. He hosted monthly meetings for magicians at his home in Los Angeles. He also wrote articles for magic magazines and shared what he had learned in his book The Charlatan's Handbook (1993). For young magicians, he wrote Mr. Mysterious's Secrets of Magic (1975).

Besides writing and magic, Fleischman enjoyed gardening, astronomy, hand-printing, radio, and playing classical guitar. He passed away on March 17, 2010, the day after his 90th birthday.

Books by Sid Fleischman

Fiction for Children or Young Adults

• Mr. Mysterious & Company (1962)
• By the Great Horn Spoon! (1963)
• The Ghost in the Noonday Sun (1965)
• Chancy and the Grand Rascal (1966)
• McBroom Tells the Truth (1966)
• McBroom and the Big Wind (1967)
• McBroom's Ear (1970)
• Longbeard the Wizard (1970)
• Jingo Django (1971)
• McBroom's Ghost (1971)
• McBroom's Zoo (1971)
• The Wooden Cat Man (1972)
• McBroom the Rainmaker (1973)
• The Ghost on Saturday Night (1974)
• McBroom Tells a Lie (1976)
• Me and the Man on the Moon-Eyed Horse (1977)
• Kate's Secret Riddle Book (1977)
• McBroom and the Beanstalk (1978)
• Humbug Mountain (1978)
• Jim Bridger's Alarm Clock (1978)
• The Hey Hey Man (1979)
• McBroom and the Great Race (1980)
• The Bloodhound Gang series:
  • The Case of the Cackling Ghost (1981)
  • The Case of the Flying Clock (1981)
  • The Case of the Secret Message (1981)
  • The Case of Princess Tomorrow (1981)
  • The Case of the 264 Pound Burglar (1982)
  • The Bloodhound Gang's Secret Code Book (1982)
• McBroom's Almanac (1982)
• The Whipping Boy (1986)
• The Scarebird (1988)
• The Midnight Horse (1990)
• Jim Ugly (1992)
• The 13th Floor: A ghost story (1995)
• Bandit's Moon (1998)
• A Carnival of Animals (2000)
• Bo and Mzzz Mad (2001)
• Disappearing Act (2003)
• The Giant Rat of Sumatra (2005)
• The White Elephant (2006)
• The Entertainer and the Dybbuk (2008)
• The Dream Stealer (2009)

Nonfiction for Young Readers

• The Abracadabra Kid: A Writer's Life (1996)
• Escape! The Story of the Great Houdini (2006)
• The Trouble Begins at 8: A Life of Mark Twain in the Wild, Wild West (2008)
• Sir Charlie: Chaplin, the Funniest Man in the World (2010)

Books on Magic

• Between Cocktails (1939)
• Ready, Aim, Magic! (with Bob Gunther, 1942)
• Call the Witness (with Bob Gunther, 1943)
• The Blue Bug (with Bob Gunther, 1947)
• Top Secrets (with Bob Gunther, 1947)
• Magic Made Easy, as Carl March (1953)
• Mr. Mysterious's Secrets of Magic (1975)
• The Charlatan's Handbook (1993)

Movies Based on His Books

• The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin (Disney, 1967) was made from Fleischman's western novel By the Great Horn Spoon!.
• Ghost in the Noonday Sun (Tyburn, 1973) was loosely based on Fleischman's novel.