Bruce Coville: An Author Kids Love

Parker-Rock, Michelle. Bruce Coville: An Author Kids Love.
Enslow, 2008. 48p $23.93 978-0-7660-2755-8
Authors Kids Love series

Presents the life of Bruce Coville, who is best known for his books for elementary students. Those who influenced him, his childhood, his writing style, and family life are covered in a way to make students understand the writing process. For grades 4+ .
Bruce Coville is a prolific writer of books mainly geared to elementary school students. Parker-Rock takes portions of an interview with Coville and writes a solid book that chronicles Coville’s childhood, the reasons he became a writer, his family life, and those who influenced him in his writing. Longer passages from the interview with Coville are highlighted in green so students readily can pick out direct quotes. She includes quirky events from Coville’s life such as his job working digging graves at a cemetery. His many life experiences have been used as a basis for the books he writes especially those experiences during his time spent teaching. Students will see that writing is a process that draws on personal experience and can be done by almost anyone who wishes to express themselves and see his ideas come to life. Coville admits that writing is not always done when inspiration strikes but is a consistent activity for him where he takes an idea, writes about it and revises it often prior to the final edition. Students can almost envision his office area in his house because of the excellent description by Parker-Rock. Book Fact sidebars provide insight into the literary life of Coville from his childhood through his writing career. The cover is colorful with a photograph of Coville standing in front of a bookshelf with the numerous books he has written. The table of contents is attractively laid out with chapter titles and photographs from Coville’s life. A bibliography of all titles written by Coville is arranged by series or age level. There is also a chart of his award winning titles. A glossary (some words are italicized in the text, some are not), further reading and index complete the book. A well-rounded biography of Coville that will give insight into the writing process for young people.
Authors Kids Love contains three new titles that are based on interviews. Direct quotations give students a flavor of the writer, his/her lifestyle, people who influenced them, and facts about the writing process. Easy reading for fans of the author’s work. For grades 4 and up. LMN