Stories of My Life

Gr 6 Up—A beloved author shares family lore and personal history in a collection of stories wending casually from her parents' youth to her husband's recent death, with many illuminating stops—geographical and temporal—in between. This set of personal tales offers the same openness and vibrant detail that helped Paterson garner Newbery Medals and National Book Awards. The chapters and accompanying photographs lace together family history with professional triumphs and struggles, sometimes leaping decades and continents in one or two sentences, with many episodes focusing on her family's experiences during her childhood in China and her own adult missionary life in Japan. Longtime fans will delight in the origin stories dotted throughout, revealing inspirations for familiar characters, locations, and incidents. In the introduction, Paterson dismisses the notion of publishing her memoirs, and the meaningful compilation of anecdotes here does not present as a single, cohesive narrative. Some chapters display a nuanced interweaving and a sense of resolution, while others appear as lists or simple, chronological accounts. Paterson's Christian faith and her missionary background inform many of the tales, and her robust family relationships suffuse the entire book with contented warmth. Though the text is accessible to middle and high school students, the audience may be largely professional, as the stories, while never inappropriate, address adult concerns (such as Paterson dealing with parenthood). For those of us never invited to dinner in Paterson's undoubtedly welcoming home, this book allows us at least to imagine the stories we might hear while doing the dishes.—Robbin E. Friedman, Chappaqua Library, NY