A story does not start
for anyone, nor an idea, nor a feeling of an idea; but starts more for oneself." As
School Library Journal contributor Linda Silver noted, "So few authors write equally well for children and adults that Paula Fox and Isaac Bashevis Singer (who do) should be noted." Silver went on to comment, "Fox's polished prose is so restrained that at times it is cryptic." And as Fox noted in her acceptance speech for the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, reprinted in
Bookbird, she sees no general difference in the division between children's and adult literature. "The heart of the matter, I believe, is that the art of storytelling is, ultimately, the art of truth. In the imaginative effort that lies behind a good story, there is no difference between writing for children and for adults."
A Peripatetic Childhood
Fox spent her childhood moving from place to place and school to school. Her father was what Fox described to AAYA as "an itinerant writer." Working in New York City, he earned a living by rewriting plays by other authors, as well as writing several of his own, and later he went to Hollywood and England to work for film studios.
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