Picture of author.

Beth Kephart

Author of Undercover

36+ Works 1,915 Members 203 Reviews 2 Favorited

About the Author

Beth Kephart's first book was a National Book Award finalist & was named a best book of the year by "Salon," the "Philadelphia Inquirer," & others. Kephart has won a 2000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the 1998 Leeway grant, & the 1997 Pennsylvania Council on the Arts top grant for show more fiction. Her essays & articles have appeared in magazine nationwide. She lives in Pennsylvania. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Red Room

Works by Beth Kephart

Undercover (2009) 253 copies
Small Damages (2012) 162 copies
This Is the Story of You (2016) 149 copies
Going Over (2014) 148 copies
You Are My Only (2011) 139 copies
Nothing but Ghosts (2009) 120 copies
Dangerous Neighbors (2010) 120 copies
The Heart Is Not a Size (2010) 110 copies
House of Dance (2008) 91 copies
One Thing Stolen (1831) 86 copies
Wild Blues (2018) 40 copies

Associated Works

The Kindness of Strangers (2003) — Contributor — 200 copies
The Best American Sports Writing 2001 (2002) — Contributor — 48 copies

Tagged

2012 (12) ARC (27) autism (15) biography (10) books-i-own (13) contemporary (10) dance (12) death (20) family (25) fiction (87) friendship (17) Germany (9) grief (15) high school (10) historical fiction (33) ice skating (20) love (12) memoir (50) mothers and daughters (9) mystery (16) nature (10) non-fiction (51) own (11) Philadelphia (15) poetry (26) read (24) realistic fiction (28) relationships (10) romance (23) sisters (11) Spain (15) survival (12) teen (23) to-read (194) want to read (9) wishlist (13) writing (23) YA (89) young adult (98) young adult fiction (21)

Common Knowledge

Birthdate
20th Century
Gender
female
Nationality
USA
Birthplace
Wilmington, Delaware, USA
Places of residence
Pennsylvania, USA
Education
University of Pennsylvania
Awards and honors
Phi Beta Kappa

Members

Reviews

A wonderful picture book biography of the influential children's book editor Ursula Nordstrom, who worked with Margaret Wise Brown, Ruth Krauss, and Maurice Sendak.

Back matter includes an extensive author's note with more biographical information and a photo of Nordstrom, and a list of sources.

See also: Just Like Beverly
 
Flagged
JennyArch | 1 other review | Nov 3, 2023 |
First sentence: Ursula Nordstrom
was a grown-up
who never forgot
what it was to be a child.

Premise/plot: Chances are children are clueless when it comes to knowing who Ursula Nordstrom is. (Perhaps most parents as well.) But there's a HUGE possibility that you've read aloud to your little one a book edited by Ursula Nordstrom. Nordstrom was a children's book editor.

My thoughts: I greatly enjoyed this book celebrating books. I loved learning more about her contribution to the world of children's books. I had heard of her before--having studied children's literature at a graduate level.

I loved the way this one was written.

My favorite quote:

And she would remind anyone who called stories
too naughty, funny, or scary
that there were all kinds of children who need all
kinds of books:
books for children who feel sad
books for children who get mad
books for children who feel different
books for children who are lonely
books for children who have secrets.
Once, when Ursula was asked
to explain why she, a grown-up
who had not gone to college,
who had never been a teacher or librarian,
had any business making books for children,
she declared:
"I am a former child, and I haven't forgotten a thing."
… (more)
 
Flagged
blbooks | 1 other review | Sep 26, 2023 |
When the author (an American raised in northern suburbia) marries her husband (an artist from El Salvador), she experiences difficulties finding her place within his intimidatingly foreign family, language, and country. The best parts of Still Love in Strange Places involves Kephart's examination of how twentieth-century Salvadorean politics are intertwined with her husband's family history. But the memoir is more interested in wielding a vast metaphor (marriage as an act of emigration) than in examining El Salvador itself, and the metaphor is far less interesting than the author's precise impressions of the country. More damningly, the tone is treacly. Still Love in Strange Places is self-effacing and self-validating enough to be fit for Oprah. Worse, the narrative is pre-emptively guilty about the author's natural resentment of her exclusion from her husband's clannish country. I wanted the memoir to either own that anger or to excise it, but its current role (hesitant, agonized acknowledgment) is utterly unsatisfying. Still Love in Strange Places seems to present a portrait of marriage/travel as nervously performed on egg shells.… (more)
 
Flagged
proustbot | 3 other reviews | Jun 19, 2023 |
This was a good book. I did find it a tad confusing though. I had a hard time staying engaged at the begining. Even with that said i liked the ending.
 
Flagged
AshleyPelletier | 1 other review | Feb 21, 2023 |

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Statistics

Works
36
Also by
4
Members
1,915
Popularity
#13,438
Rating
3.8
Reviews
203
ISBNs
109
Languages
3
Favorited
2

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