Paul Fleischman was born on September 5, 1952, in Montery, CA. He went to Berkeley for two years, then dropped out and rode bikes and trains across the country. He house-sat for an old house which he would later use as the setting for several books. Five years later he went back to school and earned his degree from the University of New Mexico.
As a kid, he loved collecting junk. As he grew older, this hobby turned into a love of assembling scupture out of found items. "A found sculptor is forever trying to solve problems, keeping an eye on both the sum and its parts, constantly judging and revising ... I go through every one of these stages when I'm writing a book."
Before he was a writer he was a bookstore clerk, a proofreader, and a bagel maker.
Paul's father is Sid Fleischman, who in 1987 won a Newbery for The Whipping Boy - just two years before his son would win the same award for Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices.
Paul may be reached at 855 Marino Pines, Pacific Grove CA, 93950.
Quotes:
"When I lived in conservative Omaha for a year and owned the only beard on the block, I went out of my way to start friendly conversations with people at the bus stop and at the checkstand, trying to mend the rips in the social net."
Books:
Big Talk: Poems for Four Voices
The Borning Room
Bull Run
Cannibal in the Mirror
A Fate Totally Worse Than Death
Finzel the Farsighted
Graven Images
The Half-A-Moon Inn
I Am Phoenix: Poems for Two Voices
Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices (1989 Newbery Award)
Lost! A Story in String
Mind's Eye
Saturnalia
Seedfolks
Time Train
Weslandia
Whirligig
thanks to:
http://www.people.virginia.edu/~lbs5z/PPointPF/
http://www.charlottezolotow.com/paul_fleischman.htm
www.amazon.com