Picture of author.

Jim Murphy (2) (1947–2022)

Author of The Great Fire

For other authors named Jim Murphy, see the disambiguation page.

41+ Works 10,105 Members 279 Reviews 1 Favorited

About the Author

Jim Murphy has written more than twenty-five books for young people. In addition to the Newbery Honor, which he received for The Great Fire, he has won many other awards, including the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award and a Boston Globe/Horn Book Honor. He is also the two-time winner of show more both the SCBWI Golden Kite Award and the NCTE Orbis Pictus Award Mr. Murphy lives with his family in Maplewood, New Jersey show less

Works by Jim Murphy

The Great Fire (1995) 1,249 copies
The Long Road to Gettysburg (1992) 324 copies
The Call of the Wolves (1989) 270 copies
The Last Dinosaur (1988) 200 copies
Dinosaur for a Day (1587) 185 copies

Associated Works

Guys Read: True Stories (2014) — Contributor — 177 copies
911: The Book of Help (2002) — Contributor — 46 copies
Dear America: The Nation at War: The Civil War Collection (2002) — Contributor — 12 copies
Cricket Magazine, Vol. 8, No. 2, October 1980 — Contributor — 2 copies

Tagged

Common Knowledge

Members

Reviews

2.5stars. Listed as geared towards grades 5-8. I can't imagine that anyone in that age group would find this entertaining. I love Robert Louis Stevenson's collection of poetry, _A Child's Garden of Verses_. So, I appreciated learning a little more about him.
 
Flagged
CarolHicksCase | 7 other reviews | Mar 12, 2023 |
This was an interesting and informative book, but could have been much better. It is a short book, only about 150 pages. But the narrative is even shorter as there are many illustrations, which are actually the best part of the book. On almost every other page is an illustration from the time period, thus reducing the prose.

The book is the story of the Yellow Fever plague in Philadelphia in 1793. Unfortunately, the medical community neither knew what caused the disease, nor how to properly cure it. Only later did they learn the disease was carried by mosquitoes.

Overall, it is not a bad book, but I wish the story had gone deeper into the daily life of the citizens of Philadelphia and how they coped with the plague, as well as some in-depth stories of those who suffered and recovered from the disease.

As I said, the illustrations are beautiful and are the best part of the book, thus I was able to give it 3 stars. As it is a very short read, I can recommend it for those interested in this subject. There is a nice index and list of sources at the end for those wishing to read further on the subject.
… (more)
 
Flagged
dwcofer | 90 other reviews | Feb 17, 2023 |
Short book that tells the history of a severe blizzard that hit the Northeastern US in March, 1888. Though the storm covered many states, from Virginia to Maine, the story is focused on the area around New York City. It contains stories of individuals who miraculously survived and many who did not. Back then, weather forecasting was still pretty primitive, and telegraph communications were easily disrupted. Near the end, the author recounts some of the improvements that were made in disaster planning as a result. It provides enough historic details to give readers a good idea about how people lived in those days and how different it is from today.… (more)
 
Flagged
Castlelass | 19 other reviews | Oct 30, 2022 |

Lists

Awards

You May Also Like

Associated Authors

Statistics

Works
41
Also by
4
Members
10,105
Popularity
#2,350
Rating
3.9
Reviews
279
ISBNs
225
Languages
5
Favorited
1
Touchstones
101

Charts & Graphs