Marc Aronson Author Focus

 

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.

"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.

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.  

 

Meet the Author Series interview with Marc Aronson 

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