Marc Aronson: Pathfinder to New Knowledge
“We were on vacation . . . I could not stop reading . . . The book was the First Book of George Washington, a biography with black and white drawings. Biography made reading worthwhile, and from that moment on I knew what I like reading. Reading to read—forget it. Reading to know—you can’t stop me. I still haven’t stopped. My guilty pleasures are the non-fiction books I don’t have to read, but just want to. And, to my great surprise, my great fortune is that I write non-fiction books for a living, so I am constantly getting to read, to learn, and know more.” Marc Aronson
This pathfinder is designed for teachers and students interested in learning more about Marc Aronson and his work. Aronson is a tireless campaigner for readers of all ages but especially for young adults. He states that he began editing and writing non-fiction for younger readers because he remembers feeling that " . . . non-fiction was both the entry into the adult world and a claim of my own territory" (Gale). Aronson writes books of high interest for both teen and adult readers and works to promote literacy and relevant discussion on many educational topics.
Biography: Marc Henry Aronson was born in New York in 1950
to Lisa and Boris Aronson, both of whom were Broadway stage designers. Aronson makes his home today in Maplewood,
New Jersey with his wife and sometime co-author, Marina Budhos, and their two sons. Educated
at New York University, the author has a PhD in American History and continues
to work in academia as a professor at Rutgers in addition to authoring books,
writing journal articles and maintaining a blog called "Non-fiction Matters."
Awards: Aronson has won acclaim for several of his
books. According to his publisher Simon and Schuster, in 2001 he won
the Robert L. Sibert Award
for non-fiction for his book Sir Walter
Raleigh and the Quest for El Dorado. The same work earned him the Boston
Globe-Horn Book Award. The Sibert Award is very
prestigious; according to their website, it is awarded annually by the ALSC to
“the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished informational book
published in the United States in English during the preceding year.” The
Boston Globe-Horn Book Award is also given each year for achievement in
children’s publishing to winners in three categories, including
non-fiction. Aronson has also won the LMP Award, a publisher’s
honor. The Annual LMP Awards “recognize the commitment, vision, and
proficiency of persons and companies in different fields, (including editing
and graphic design) that have helped create works of lasting significance.”
Pick-Up Game, a compilation of
short stories in which Aronson is listed as the lead author, has recently been
nominated for an Audie Award, an honor given by the Audio Publisher’s
Association to the best adaptation to audio book. Trapped: How the
World Rescued 33 Miners from 2,000 Feet Below the Chilean Desert was
awarded The Publisher's Weekly Best Book Award of 2011 for children's
non-fiction. This same award was bestowed on Aronson in 1998 for Art
Attack: A Short Cultural History of the Avant-Garde.
Contributions: Like many YA authors, Aronson has a prolific
body of work that covers many topics.
His specialty is non-fiction but his passion is “. . . to inspire young
people to ask questions, to look around, behind, inside . . .” for information
that the world has to impart. Aronson
believes strongly in young readers and their ability to understand and impact
the world around them. He lectures and
visits schools, he appears before various agencies to extol the virtues of
Young Adult literature and to argue for its continued presence. Aronson describes himself a “committed
internationalist” and his books often span multiple continents. He recognizes the global nature of the world
today and thinks that young people inherently accept this. Because of that, he formed, Edge, an imprint that is dedicated to
multicultural YA fiction and non-fiction.
He also supports Guys Read, a
project that is directed at encouraging young men to read and is committed to
providing them with material they would find engaging.
Genres
and Topics: Marc
Aronson has a PhD in American History and generally writes non-fiction
books. His books include topics that
range from biographies of J. Edgar Hoover and Robert F. Kennedy to the real
stories of Chilean miners trapped beneath the Earth and the legends of John
Henry and other Americans of the past.
His book For Boys Only: The Biggest Baddest Book Ever is designed to attract boys with puzzles,
facts and statistics. He has
written on American Independence, the Salem Witch Trials, explorers across the
world and recently, about loving Palestine.
Aronson writes for middle graders and high school readers as well as for
adults.
Recommended
or Highlighted Titles for the Classroom: Aronson has written so many tempting titles
it may difficult to choose only a few. To
a large extent, all of his books sound both appropriate and absorbing. I recently read Sugar Changed the World, a book I would highlight because it was
easy to read and digest yet contained so much fascinating information that I
couldn’t put it down. It would be extremely
readable for middle schoolers and I think the mixture of adventure, fact and
conflict would appeal to boys. Another
book that invites attention is Race: A
History Beyond Black and White because race relations and their repercussions
continue to have profound impact on the world.
This book comes with a teacher guide to using the material that would be
beneficial to any classroom educator. For
Boys Only: The Biggest Baddest Book Ever certainly sounds attractive to have on a middle school classroom library
shelf. The description of hypothetical
battles, statistics and facts, combined with the black and red graphics is very
appealing. One last book that I would draw
attention to
is The World Made New, a National
Geographic Children’s Book that describes the Age of Exploration and the
changes those adventurers brought to the world.
Marc Aronson has many books worth investigating. The beauty of his work is that he combines factual information with the very real presence of the human beings who are at the core of his writing. History and non-fiction are not simply old facts that must be learned or discarded as irrelevant in today's technology infused classroom.
Marc Aronson has many books worth investigating. The beauty of his work is that he combines factual information with the very real presence of the human beings who are at the core of his writing. History and non-fiction are not simply old facts that must be learned or discarded as irrelevant in today's technology infused classroom.
"In all my books I am saying to readers: the whole world and all of history is yours to swim in, to explore, to investigate, to question, to experiment with, to discover. It does not belong to adults. It need not be confined to dusty shelves or listed on search engines. You have the right to find your place in this rich past that formed you, and in this vast world that surrounds you. Yes, you are your family, your school, your friends, your ethnicity, your religion. But that is not all you are. That is your . . . starting point, from there you can go anywhere" (Gale).
Look here for Marc Aronson's official website. There are full descriptions of each of his books and additional information on the author.
Aronson is a regular contributor to The School Library Journal and The Horn Book Magazine among others.
Aronson is a regular contributor to The School Library Journal and The Horn Book Magazine among others.
Journal Articles of Interest
A focus on nonfiction. (2011). Childhood Education, 87(5), 366-366. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezp.lndlibrary.org/docview/875892552?accountid=12164
Like last years. (2010, May 05). The Washington Post, pp. C.4-C.4. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezp.lndlibrary.org/docview/250167919?accountid=12164
Aronson, M. (2009, Sep 27). A librarian rides to a books rescue. New York Times, pp. NJ.16-NJ.16. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezp.lndlibrary.org/docview/434174389?accountid=12164
Aronson, M. (2008). Bedside reading. School Library Journal, 54(2), 28-28. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezp.lndlibrary.org/docview/211839505?accountid=12164
Aronson, M. (2008). Being and nothingness. School Library Journal, 54(10), 31-n/a. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezp.lndlibrary.org/docview/211824097?accountid=12164
Aronson, M. (2009). Caught in the net: Writing nonfiction in the age of google images, truthiness, twitter, and textbook hippos. The Horn Book Magazine, 85(5), 509-513. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezp.lndlibrary.org/docview/199370337?accountid=12164
Aronson, M. (2008). Cracking open. School Library Journal, 54(4), 28-28. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezp.lndlibrary.org/docview/211834272?accountid=12164
Aronson, M. (2008). Face the facts. School Library Journal, 54(7), 21-21. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezp.lndlibrary.org/docview/211831907?accountid=12164
Aronson, M. (2009). Moore of everything. School Library Journal, 55(6), 26-n/a. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezp.lndlibrary.org/docview/211924105?accountid=12164
Aronson, M. (2011). New knowledge. The Horn Book Magazine, 87(2), 57-62. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezp.lndlibrary.org/docview/852999822?accountid=12164
Aronson, M. (2008). No direction home. School Library Journal, 54(11), 32-n/a. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezp.lndlibrary.org/docview/211830264?accountid=12164
Aronson, M. (2008). Not a pretty picture. School Library Journal, 54(6), 31-31. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezp.lndlibrary.org/docview/211832306?accountid=12164
Aronson, M. (2008). Selective memory. School Library Journal, 54(3), 34-34. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezp.lndlibrary.org/docview/211834445?accountid=12164
Aronson, M. (2010, Apr 03). The end of history (books). New York Times, pp. A.17-A.17. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezp.lndlibrary.org/docview/434356801?accountid=12164
Aronson, M. (2009). The universe is expanding. School Library Journal, 55(4), 22-n/a. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezp.lndlibrary.org/docview/211924485?accountid=12164
Aronson, M. (2008). Things have gotta change. School Library Journal, 54(9), 33-n/a. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezp.lndlibrary.org/docview/211831509?accountid=12164
Aronson, M. (2008). We've got the technology. School Library Journal, 54(12), 27-n/a. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezp.lndlibrary.org/docview/211835287?accountid=12164
The above articles were found using the ProQuest database at the University of Notre Dame of Maryland library.
Students interview Marc Aronson about Witch Hunt in this YouTube video
Pathfinder Sources:
marcaronson.com
Simon and Shuster's Official Publisher Page for Marc Aronson
Gale, Thomas. (2006) "Marc Aronson." <http://www.encyclopedia.com/
topic/Marc_Aronson.aspx> Retrieved 11 April 2012
Google Images used for Book Covers
