Joyce Carol Thomas
Activity Sheet

Biography from The Center for the Book
Joyce Carol Thomas was born in Ponca City, Oklahoma. Although she moved to California at the age of ten, she never forgot her Oklahoma background. Known for her poetry, playwriting, and novels-especially for children and young adults-her books resonate with the language, and rhythms of Oklahoma. Her work evokes a childhood when she made up songs, stories, and poems and shared them with her family and playmates.
Presently living in California, Thomas has returned to her birthplace through much of her writing. Oklahoma is the setting for her novels Marked By Fire, Bright Shadow, and The Golden Pasture. Her poetry books, I Have Heard Of A Land, Brown Honey In Broomwheat Tea, and Gingerbread Days, are infused with prairie sensibility.
Thomas received the National Book Award for her first book, Marked by Fire. That book was also voted the best book for young adults by the New York Times in 1983. Her first illustrated book, Brown Honey and Broomwheat Tea won the Coretta Scott King Award in 1994.
Thomas also won the 2001 Oklahoma Book Award in the Children and Young Adult catagory with her collection African American lullabies, Hush Songs (Hyperion Books for Children). This is the first time that a Lifetime Achievement winner has also won an award for a book entered that year. Thomas' books Gingerbread Days and I Have Heard of A Land were both finalists for earlier Oklahoma Book Awards. She was awarded the Oklahoma Center for the Book Lifetime Achievement Award Winner in 2001. Thomas is the poet laureate for the Oklahoma Center for Poets and Writers, at Oklahoma State University-Tulsa.
Thomas is known for her poetry, playwriting, and novels-especially for children and young adults. She received the National Book Award for her first novel, Marked by Fire. Her first illustrated book Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea won a Coretta Scott King Award. She was a finalist for the 1996 Oklahoma Book Award for Gingerbread Days, and the 1999 Oklahoma Book Award for I Have Heard of a Land.

I Have Heard of a Land
Book Description from amazon.com
Drawing upon her own family history, National Book Award winner Joyce Carol Thomas has crafted an unforgettable anthem to these brave and determned people from America's past. Richly illustrated by Coretta Scott King Award honoree Floyd Cooper, I Have Heard of a Land is a glorious tribute to the Afrian-American pioneer spirit. National Book Award­winning author Joyce Carol Thomas draws on family history for this lyrical account of America's little-known past. In the late 1880s, thousands of pioneers, many African Americans newly freed from slavery, raced to the Oklahoma Territory. Here all one needed to stake a claim was hope and courage'and the determination to journey west. Richly illustrated by Coretta Scott King Award Honor­recipient Floyd Cooper and complete with an author's endnote, I Have Heard of a Land commemorates the strength of the African-American pioneers. It is a hymn to liberty and unity, an ode to a land where what can be dreamed can be accomplished.

The Bowlegged Rooster: And Other Tales That Signify
Book Description from amazon.com
After baby rooster takes his first steppity-step-step out of the eggshell, he has so much to discover. There's Grandpa Goose's funeral and Bald-headed Buzzard dunking himself in the river, hoping for some feathers. Not to mention Crow's big wedding and a Christmas party with presents and good wishes for everyone. Life in the barnyard sure is more than just steppity-step-strut-strutting around!
National Book Award winner Joyce Carol Thomas brings us five high-spirited and playful tales that signify the important events in life: birth, death, baptism, marriage, and of course, rejoicing. Full of whimsical characters, The Bowlegged Rooster is a celebration of life's discoveries and turning points. Read an exerpt.

Official Joyce Carol Thomas Website
http://www.joycecarolthomas.com/

You may email Joyce Carol Thomas at author@joycecarolthomas.com