Johanna Reiss: Difference between revisions
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Johanna Reiss was born, raised, and educated in the Netherlands. After teaching elementary school for several years, she moved to the United States. She wrote a young adult novel, ''The Upstairs Room'', sharing her personal experience of the events of the Second World War. Published in 1972, this classic YA novel won Reiss several awards: it was a Newbery Honor Book, an American Library Association Notable Children's Book, and a Jane Addams Peace Association Honor Book. It also won the Jewish Book Council Juvenile Book Award and the Buxtehuder Bulle, the prestigious German children's book award. [[Elie Wiesel]] considers ''The Upstairs Room'' "as important in every respect as the one bequeathed to us by Anne Frank." |
Johanna Reiss was born, raised, and educated in the Netherlands. Johanna Reiss survived the war hidden in the attic of a farmer called Johan Oosterveld.[http://thebrowser.com/books/interviews/reiss] After teaching elementary school for several years, she moved to the United States. She wrote a young adult novel, ''The Upstairs Room'', sharing her personal experience of the events of the Second World War. Published in 1972, this classic YA novel won Reiss several awards: it was a Newbery Honor Book, an American Library Association Notable Children's Book, and a Jane Addams Peace Association Honor Book. It also won the Jewish Book Council Juvenile Book Award and the Buxtehuder Bulle, the prestigious German children's book award. [[Elie Wiesel]] considers ''The Upstairs Room'' "as important in every respect as the one bequeathed to us by Anne Frank." |
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''[[The Upstairs Room]]'' enjoyed success, but Reiss still felt something was missing. She says of this time: that "there was still something I wanted to say, something that was as meaningful to me as the story I had told in the first book, the story of a war. 'The fighting has stopped'; 'Peace treaty signed,' newspapers announce at the conclusion of every war. From a political point of view, the war is over, but in another sense it has not really ended. People are fragile. They are strong, too, but wars leave emotional scars that take a long time to heal, generations perhaps. I know this to be true of myself, and of others. And out of those feelings came [a sequel] ''The Journey Back'', a story of the aftermath of the Second World War."<ref>[http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/12640/Johanna_Reiss/index.aspx?authorID=12640 Johanna Reiss from HarperCollins Publishers]. Harpercollins.com (2008-06-20). Retrieved on 2009-02-03.</ref> |
''[[The Upstairs Room]]'' enjoyed success, but Reiss still felt something was missing. She says of this time: that "there was still something I wanted to say, something that was as meaningful to me as the story I had told in the first book, the story of a war. 'The fighting has stopped'; 'Peace treaty signed,' newspapers announce at the conclusion of every war. From a political point of view, the war is over, but in another sense it has not really ended. People are fragile. They are strong, too, but wars leave emotional scars that take a long time to heal, generations perhaps. I know this to be true of myself, and of others. And out of those feelings came [a sequel] ''The Journey Back'', a story of the aftermath of the Second World War."<ref>[http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/12640/Johanna_Reiss/index.aspx?authorID=12640 Johanna Reiss from HarperCollins Publishers]. Harpercollins.com (2008-06-20). Retrieved on 2009-02-03.</ref> |
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Johanna Reiss | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Period | (1969)- present |
| Subject | The Holocaust |
| Notable works | The Upstairs Room (1972) |
| Notable awards | Newbery Honor, ALA Notable Book, Jewish Book Council Children's Book Award, Buxtehuder Bulle Prize |
Johanna Reiss (April 4) is a Dutch-American writer and longtime resident of New York City. Her most recent work, A Hidden Life, was published by Melville House Publishing in January 2009. In her books, Reiss has presented her childhood experience as a Jewish girl in The Netherlands during the Holocaust.
Biography
Johanna Reiss was born, raised, and educated in the Netherlands. Johanna Reiss survived the war hidden in the attic of a farmer called Johan Oosterveld.[1] After teaching elementary school for several years, she moved to the United States. She wrote a young adult novel, The Upstairs Room, sharing her personal experience of the events of the Second World War. Published in 1972, this classic YA novel won Reiss several awards: it was a Newbery Honor Book, an American Library Association Notable Children's Book, and a Jane Addams Peace Association Honor Book. It also won the Jewish Book Council Juvenile Book Award and the Buxtehuder Bulle, the prestigious German children's book award. Elie Wiesel considers The Upstairs Room "as important in every respect as the one bequeathed to us by Anne Frank."
The Upstairs Room enjoyed success, but Reiss still felt something was missing. She says of this time: that "there was still something I wanted to say, something that was as meaningful to me as the story I had told in the first book, the story of a war. 'The fighting has stopped'; 'Peace treaty signed,' newspapers announce at the conclusion of every war. From a political point of view, the war is over, but in another sense it has not really ended. People are fragile. They are strong, too, but wars leave emotional scars that take a long time to heal, generations perhaps. I know this to be true of myself, and of others. And out of those feelings came [a sequel] The Journey Back, a story of the aftermath of the Second World War."[1]
Her latest book, A Hidden Life, was published by Melville House Publishing in January 2009. It is a memoir written for adults, in which Reiss confronted the memories of childhood as well as the tragedy of her husband's suicide.[2]
Works
- The Upstairs Room (HarperCollins, 1972)
- The Journey Back
- A Hidden Life (Melville House Publishing, 2009)
References
- ^ Johanna Reiss from HarperCollins Publishers. Harpercollins.com (2008-06-20). Retrieved on 2009-02-03.
- ^ http://mhpbooks.com/book.php?id=110