REFERENCE SECTION Author Files . R1 Foldables . R8 Literary Terms Handbook . .R10 Writing Handbook . .R17 The Writing Process . .R17 Writing Modes . R20 Research Report Writing . .R21 Business Writing . R25 Using a Computer for Writing . R27 Language Handbook . R28 Troubleshooter . R28 Troublesome Words . R33 Mechanics . R36 Spelling . R43 Listening, Speaking, and Viewing Handbook . R45 Study and Test-Taking Skills Handbook . R49 Glossary/Glosario . R54 Index of Skills . R70 Index of Authors and Titles . R77 Index of Art and Artists . R79 Acknowledgments . .R81 AUTHOR FILES Maya Angelou (1928– ) • was originally named Marguerite; Maya is the Avi (1937– ) name her brother called her as a child • his grandmother, an aunt, and his parents were • at the age of three, was sent to live with her writers; two uncles were painters and another grandmother who ran the only black-owned a composer general store in the town of Stamps, Arkansas • late in his school career, it was discovered that • has been a professor at Wake Forest University he has dysgraphia, an impairment that causes for more than twenty years him to reverse letters or misspell words • speaks French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, and Fanti • his twin sister gave him the name “Avi” when (a language of southern Ghana) fluently they were both about a year old Quote: “Everybody has ideas. The vital question is, what do you do with them?” Ray Bradbury (1920– ) Toni Cade Bambara (1939–1995) • does not like technology even though he writes • studied acting and mime in Italy and France about it; he doesn’t drive a car, use a computer, • worked as an investigator for the New York State or fly in airplanes Department of Welfare for two years • feels that much of his work is too fantastic to be • was encouraged by her mother to be creative considered science fiction, which he said he felt • contributed to several films as a writer and had to be based on possibilities for the future commentator • has written more than 30 books and 600 short Quote: “She gave me permission to wonder, to stories dawdle, to daydream.” Quote: “The great fun in my life has been getting up every morning and rushing to the typewriter…” Gwendolyn Brooks (1917–2000) • was born in Topeka, Kansas, but lived most of Lewis Carroll (1832–1898) her life in Chicago • Charles Lutwidge Dodson, the third of eleven • was the first black writer to win the Pulitzer Prize children, took the pen name Lewis Carroll in his (1950) and the first black woman appointed twenties poetry consultant to the Library of Congress • wanted to be a clergyman like his father, but a • followed Carl Sandburg as Poet Laureate of severe stutter prevented him from most public Illinois in 1968; served until her death in 2000 speaking Quote: “I am interested in telling my particular • in addition to the children’s books for which truth as I have seen it.” he is best known, he published more than ten books on mathematics Author Files R1 Sandra Cisneros (1954– ) • was the only girl in a family of seven children Judith Ortiz Cofer (1952– ) • was in the news in Texas for two years because • grew up speaking Spanish at home but learned of the color of her house English well enough to become a writer and • has been a National Endowment for the Arts college professor • lives in Georgia on a farm that has been in her AUTHOR FILES fellow and was awarded the American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation husband’s family for generations Quote: “I feel like a cartographer. I’m • believes that immigrants do not have to choose determined to fill a literary void.” one identity over another and says she uses her art “as a bridge between [her] cultures…traveling back and forth without fear and confusion” Robert Cormier (1925–2000) • in eighth grade, saw through his classroom Harold Courlander (1908–1996) window that his house was on fire; was not • was a farmer, a historian, an editor, a press allowed to check on his family until he had officer, and a writer recited the rosary • won a copyright infringement suit against Roots • his book for young adults, The Chocolate War, author Alex Haley was banned in many cities • worked “in the field” studying and recording Quote: “I was a skinny kid living in a ghetto- the folktales of people in Haiti, Cuba, Ethiopia, type neighborhood wanting the world to know Nigeria, Ghana, the Pacific Islands, and the that I existed.” American Southwest E. E. Cummings (1894–1962) • joined the ambulance service in World War I Will Eisner (1917–2005) because he believed that violence was wrong • is credited with a leading role in creating the • published over forty texts, including books of graphic novel form poetry, artwork, and plays • helped the careers of many other famous comic • once characterized himself as “an author of artists, such as Jack Kirby and Bob Kane pictures” • used his drawing abilities in the service of his • changed modern poetry by bending or breaking country when he was drafted into the Army rules of grammar, punctuation, and even the • co-founded the famous Eisner-Iger studio placement of words on a page R2 Author Files Robert Frost (1874–1963) • lived during times of great change; was born John Gardner (1933–1982) less than ten years after the Civil War and died • when he was eleven, a tractor he was riding ran less than ten years before a man walked on the over his seven-year-old brother moon • wrote thirty-five books in twenty-five years • decided to be a poet when he was sixteen • died in a motorcycle accident • married Elinor White and had six children; Elinor • was the son of an English-teacher mother and a and four of the children died during his lifetime preacher/ dairy farmer father • was very shy but developed a style of quoting Quote: “True art is moral; it seeks to improve poetry that made him one of the most popular life, not debase it.” performers in America and overseas Nikki Giovanni (1943– ) • her real first name is Yolande, the same as her Kenneth Grahame (1859–1932) mother’s • became the Secretary of the Bank of England • during the 1960s she was known as the “Princess • was born blind in one eye, with a severe squint of Black Poetry” in the other • named “Woman of the Year” three times by • created his most famous character, Toad, to well-known publications amuse and educate his young son Alastair • appeared on The Tonight Show in 1972 • he and his two siblings were brought up by Quote: “Everything will change. The only elderly relatives, after the illness of their father question is growing up or decaying.” and death of their mother • his cousin, Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins, wrote The Prisoner of Zenda Jim Haskins (1941–2005) • in college, was arrested for marching on Kristin Hunter (1931– ) Montgomery, Alabama, as part of the Civil Rights • her novel The Landlord was made into a movie movement • was awarded both the 1968 Council on • started his writing career by keeping a diary of Interracial Books for Children Award and the his thoughts when he was teaching public school 1971 Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in Harlem • landed her first writing job as a teenager; for • wrote the book The Cotton Club, which was six years, as a high school and college student, made into a movie wrote a column for a newspaper • published more than 100 books Quote: “Every one of us is a wonder. Every one • read the encyclopedia as a child, because he of us has a story.” could not use the segregated town library Author Files R3 Francisco Jiménez (1943– ) • is a former illegal immigrant migrant worker; Bill Littlefield (1948– ) went on to earn advanced degrees • in addition to writing books and essays, • has taught in universities in the United States frequently contributes to newspapers and in Mexico • has been a National Public Radio commentator since 1984 AUTHOR FILES • won awards for his children’s books, his nonfiction, and his teaching • has won six Associated Press Awards • his collection of autobiographical short stories • taught writing courses at the Harvard University has been translated into Spanish, Chinese, Summer School and the John F. Kennedy School Japanese, and Korean Summer Program for Masters Candidates Jack London (1876–1919) • was a coal shoveler, a sailor, a hobo, and a Norma Fox Mazer (1931– ) convict, all before he entered high school; he • to support their family, she and her husband then went to the Yukon in search of gold wrote fiction for the women’s romance and • wrote nearly two dozen novels, as well as confession market hundreds of short stories • as a teenager, her nickname was “the Cold One” • was reared by his “Aunt Jennie” after mental • has published 31 books illness made his mother too weak to care for him • decided to become a writer when she was • in 1894, marched on Washington, D.C., to protest thirteen mass unemployment Quote: “I write and my readers read to find • ran for mayor of Oakland, California, in 1901 out the answers to questions, secrets, problems, to be drawn into the deepest mystery of all—someone else’s life.” Patricia C. & Fredrick McKissack, Jr. (1944– ), (1939– ) Pat Mora (1942– ) • husband and wife team has worked together on • has written picture books, a biography, a board more than fifty books book, a counting book, and two retellings of • best known for their biographies of important Mayan folktales African Americans, written for younger readers • her grandparents left Mexico during the • were jointly awarded the Coretta Scott King revolution to escape the violent raids of Pancho Award twice Villa Quote: on marching in the Civil Rights • winner of