William Allen White Award
ALA Notable Children’s Book
About the B’nai Bagels
0-689-20631-3 Atheneum
Altogether, One at a Time
0-689-20638-0 Atheneum
0-689-71290-1 Aladdin Paperbacks
A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver
0-689-30111-1 Atheneum
ALA Notable Children’s Book
National Book Award Nominee
The Second Mrs. Giaconda
0-689-70450-X Aladdin Paperbacks
Father’s Arcane Daughter
* Coming spring 1999
YASD Best Book for Young Adults
IRA/CBC Children’s Choice
Journey to an 800 Number
* Coming spring 1999
0-689-82679-6 Aladdin Paperbacks
Throwing Shadows
0-689-82120-4 Aladdin Paperbacks
ALA Notable Children’s Book
American Book Award Nominee
Up From Jericho Tel
0-689-31194-X Atheneum
0-689-82120-4 Aladdin Paperbacks
ALA Notable Children’s Book
Parents’ Choice Award for Literature
Language Arts
Amy Elizabeth Explores Bloomingdale’s
0-689-31766-2 Atheneum
T-backs, T-shirts, COAT and Suit
0-689-31855-3 Atheneum
TalkTalk: A Children’s Book Author
Speaks to Grown-ups
0-689-31993-2 Atheneum
The View from Saturday
0-689-80993-X Atheneum
0-689-81721-5 Aladdin Paperbacks
1997 Newbery Medal Winner
ALA Notable Children’s Book
LOOK FOR THESE TITLES AT YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY—
Samuel Todd’s Book oj Great Colors
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division where imaginations meet
1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020
www.SimonSaysKids.com
This is what E. L. Konigsburg has to say about writing The Dragon in the Ghetto Caper.
“Venice, Italy was the site of the very first ghetto. In 1516, the governing body of Venice decided that all Jews were to be confined to a quarter of the city where there once was a foundry, which is called a geto in the Venetian dialect. Jews were allowed out during the day, if they wore a hat and a badge that identified them. There were guards at the gates to keep them in at night.
“Now, in almost every city in the United States, there are gated communities that have been built around golf courses or lakes or country clubs. They have guards at their gates who may not forbid inhabitants from getting out at night, but who do keep non-inhabitants from getting in without some sort of badge—even if it is a car pass. Almost every city has the other kind of ghetto, too. The kind that does not have guards at its gates and probably doesn’t have gates at all. This is the community where the poor or disadvantaged live. This ghetto is often as hard to get out of as the gated community is hard to get into.
“I wanted to explore these two ghettos—the gated and the ungated; the one that is planned and the one that is spontaneous; the one that has houses and the one that has neighbors; the one without dragons and the one with. And I wanted to let Andrew J. Chronister do it—with the help of his grown-up friend, Edie Yakots.”
E. L. KONIGSBURG is the author of several books for young readers, including the Newbery Medal winners From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and The View from Saturday, and the Newbery Honor Book Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth. Mrs. Konigsburg has a degree from Carnegie-Mellon University and has done graduate work in organic chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh. Before becoming a writer, she taught science at a private girls’ school. She and her husband live on the beach in North Florida. Their three children are all married.