Isaac Bashevis Singer

In his acceptance speech for the 1978 Nobel Prize for Literature, Isaac Bashevis Singer spoke of children as the ideal literary audience. His comments bespoke his own commitment, in the final years of a long and prolific career, to writing stories for children. It was in 1966 at age 62 that Singer wrote "Zlatch the Goat," which garnered the first of the author's two Newbery Medals, the highest honor in children's literature. Isaac Bashevis Singer: Children's Stories and Childhood Memoirs is the first study focused exclusively on Singer's works for children. Alida Allison presents Singer's accomplishments in children's literature as the culmination of his career. She incorporates insights gained in interviews with Singer's widow and editors and makes extensive reference to existing documents on the author's life, in particular the autobiographies of his siblings. Allison's study is notable for its consideration of the illustrators and translators who worked closely with Singer. The varied approaches to his mysticism and realism taken by his illustrators - some of the world's best known - wonderfully extend and enhance his stories.