Gwenyth Swain

Gwenyth Swain is the youngest of five sisters and the only one to live outside her native state of Indiana. She writes partly to let the folks back home know that she's keeping busy through the long, cold Minnesota winters and partly because writing is the best job she can ever imagine having. Ms. Swain studied French and history, attended library school, and then learned the art of making books by hand at Mills College in Oakland, California.

Her how-to book Bookworks: Making Books by Hand, cowritten with Minnesota Center for Book Arts, was a Minnesota Book Award winner. Her children's biographies cover important historical figures from Johnny Appleseed to Sojourner Truth.

Publishers Weekly called Ms. Swain's first picture book, I Wonder As I Wander (W.B. Eerdmans, 2003), illustrated by Ronald Himler, "heartwarming and stimulating." Her historical novel, Chig and the Second Spread (Delacorte, 2003), received a starred review in Kirkus. Swain lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her husband, Vinnie, and their two small children.

Riding to Washington
illustrated by David Geister
Sleeping Bear Press, 2008
ages 6 and up, ISBN 9781585363247

Young Janie is a troublemaker, forced to go along with her father to the March on Washington in August 1963. She’s never spent much time before with blacks—who seem from the TV news reports to be troublemakers, too. Now, as one of the few whites on a bus headed to Washington, Janie sees her fellow travelers encountering discrimination. Ultimately she decides that some trouble is well worth making.

Wanda Gág: Storybook Artist
MHS Press-Borealis Books, 2005
ISBN 978-0-87351-545-0 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-87351-544-3 (paperback)

In a new biography for young readers, award-winning author Gwenyth Swain brings the visionary and eccentric artist to life. Swain takes readers into Wanda’s girlhood in rural Minnesota, where, from an early age, her artistic talents flourished. Yet Wanda, the eldest of seven siblings, was pushed abruptly into adulthood when her father’s untimely death left her in charge of the household. After years of struggle, Wanda Gág was finally able to go to New York to pursue her passion. Her art was eventually featured at top galleries and her books, influenced by her love of nature and animals, became wildly popular among children and critics across the United States.

Complemented by Wanda’s illustrations, letters, and diary entries, Wanda Gág: Storybook Artist illuminates for young readers the amazing life of a charismatic artist who triumphed over adversity to realize her dreams.

Awards
Minnesota Book Award

Sojourner Truth
Carolrhoda Books, Inc., 2005
(1-800-328-4929 or www.lernerbooks.com)
ages 6-9, ISBN 978-1-57505-651-7 (library binding)
ISBN 978-1-57505-827-6 (paperback)

A simple but stirring text, paired with luminous illustrations by Matthew Archambault, bring to life the former slave who gave herself a new name: Sojourner Truth. She called herself Sojourner because, she said, “I was to travel up an’ down the land.” She chose the last name Truth because, she added, “I was to declare truth to the people”—the truth about the evils of slavery and about the importance of fighting for our rights.

Little Crow: Leader of the Dakota
Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2004
ages 9 and up, ISBN 978-0-87351-502-3

In this carefully researched biography of the Dakota leader, Little Crow (Taoyateduta), the first ever written for children, author Gwenyth Swain presents a compelling portrait of the leader, warrior, and politician at the center of the Dakota War of 1862. Beginning with Taoyateduta's childhood along the Mississippi River near present-day St. Paul, this biography explores his life in the Big Woods, his wanderings west from the Mdewakanton Dakota's traditional home, his leadership of his people when they were forced to sign over their land to white settlers, and his role during the war of 1862. Hemmed in on a narrow reservation, frustrated by broken treaties, angered by dishonest agents and traders, and nearly starved because of crop failures and late annuity payments, Dakota Indians attacked white settlers living on the Indians' former homelands in southwestern Minnesota. Taoyateduta agreed to lead the battles, knowing that the U.S. government's response would be swift and terrible. In retribution for the thirty-eight-day war, thirty-eight Dakota men were hanged, thousands were imprisoned, and the Dakota people were expelled from the state.

Taoyateduta's story brings to life the painful experience of the Dakota as they lost their land and their livelihood—and as some chose to adopt white ways while others fought back, with disastrous consequences. Little Crow: Leader of the Dakotas offers a clear and accessible account of both the man who led the Dakota into war and the causes behind that wrenching conflict.

Dred and Harriet Scott,
a Family's Struggle for Freedom
Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2004
ages 9 and up, ISBN 978-0-87351-482-8

Beginning with Dred's childhood on a Virginia plantation and later travel with his masters to Alabama, Missouri, Illinois, and the territory that would become Minnesota, this "family biography" vividly depicts slave life in the early and mid-nineteenth century. At Fort Snelling, near St. Paul, Dred met and married Harriet, and together they traveled with their masters to Florida and then Missouri, finally settling in St. Louis, where the Scotts were hired out for wages. There they began marshalling evidence to be used in their freedom suit, first submitted in 1846. Their case moved through local and state courts, finally reaching the U.S. Supreme Court in 1857. But the Court's decision did not grant them the freedom they craved. Instead, it brought northern and southern states one step closer to the Civil War. Swain looks at the Dred Scott Decision in a new and remarkably personal way. By following the story of the Scotts and their children, Swain crafts a unique biography of the people behind the famous court case.

Chig and the Second Spread
Delacorte Press, 2003
ages 8 to 12, ISBN 978-0-385-73065-5

Being small is a big concern for Chig Kalpin. Like the tiny insects that catch folks unawares with their bites on a summer evening, Chig is small enough and silent enough that she's near about invisible. But she has a heartfelt desire to become a big person, both in stature and in spirit, and soon her adventures culminate with the Great Niplak Train Disaster, where she helps folks in the hills and hollers of southern Indiana make it through the Great Depression with a little more to spread between the covers of their sandwiches. Haven't heard of it? Well, as Chig might say, "Set a spell and turn the page."

Gwenyth Swain grew up hearing her father's colorful stories about his childhood during the Great Depression. After he told her of a family so poor they had only one spread on their sandwiches, Gwenyth knew she wanted to write a story of her own. The character of Chig was inspired by a woman from her Nashville, Indiana, hometown who was so small as a girl that folks said she was no bigger than a chigger.

I Wonder as I Wander
illustrated by Ronald Himler
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2003
ages 4 to 8, ISBN 978-0-8028-5214-4

Annie Morgan wonders about a lot of things. She wonders why her mother had to die. She wonders how she and her wandering preacher father will pay for gas and food when they're just as poor as everybody else. Finally she finds a way to express all her wonderings in a haunting song sung to a small crowd on the courthouse steps.

This charming story tells how the beloved Appalachian Christmas carol "I Wonder As I Wander" may have come to be written.

Get Dressed!
First Avenue Editions, Inc., 2002
ages 4 to 6, ISBN 978-1-57505-159-8 (paperback)

Reading Guide available through Minnesota Storytime

Using a rhyming text and vivid images by a variety of photographers, this nonfiction title for preschoolers, kindergartners, and emergent readers illustrates how children around the world get dressed. Young readers will be introduced to children and clothing styles from 15 different countries in this title from the Small World series of multi-cultural photo books. Suggested activities and information about each photograph are included.

Awards
Starred review (for Get Dressed! and additional titles Tidy Up!, Bedtime!, and Wash Up!) in Library Talk, September-October 2002.

Johnny Appleseed
Carolrhoda Books, Inc., 2001
(1-800-328-4929 or www.lernerbooks.com)
ages 6 to 9, ISBN 978-1-57505-519-0 (library binding)
ISBN 978-1-57505-534-3 (paperback)

This easy-to-read biography takes a look at the facts and myths about frontier nurseryman Johnny Appleseed. Born just before the Revolutionary War, young John Chapman was drawn to the adventure of life on the rough frontier, which in those days began in the mountains of Pennsylvania. He started nurseries of small apple tree seedlings there and farther west, always keeping a step or two ahead of settlers who were building cabins, plowing fields for farms, and hoping to plant orchards. To settlers, the man they called Johnny Appleseed brought good news, good company, and a good many apple tree seedlings that would bear fruit for years to come.

Awards
Johnny Appleseed was selected to be on the Bank Street College Best Children's Books of the Year list for 2002

Smiling
Carolrhoda Books, Inc., 1999
(1-800-328-4929 or www.lernerbooks.com)
ages 4 to 8, ISBN 978-1-57505-256-4 (library binding)
ISBN 978-1-57505-371-4 (paperback)

Part of the Small World series of photo-illustrated books for emergent and beginning readers, Smiling explores how children around the world show their emotions and what puts a smile on their faces. Crisp color images from a worldwide selection of photographers complement the short, gently rhyming text. Young readers, parents, and teachers will find additional information about each photograph and suggested activities for extending the reading experience at the end of the book. Other titles in this growing series include Bedtime, Carrying, Celebrating, Eating, Get Dressed, Tidy Up, and Wash Up.

Awards
Smiling was a Children's Book-of-the-Month Club Selection

Bookworks: Making Books by Hand
cowritten with Minnesota Center for Book Arts
Carolrhoda Books, Inc., 1995
(1-800-328-4929 or www.lernerbooks.com)
ages 8 to 12, ISBN 978-1-57505-073-7 (paperback)

In a starred review, School Library Journal called Bookworks a "splendid offering. ...This volume will be popular with arts-and-crafts enthusiasts as well as with teachers. Even libraries with an extensive collection of books about books will want it." (SLJ Aug. 1995, p. 151) Bookworks combines a brief history of bookmaking with step-by-step instructions for creating handmade books. Whether you want to make paper, bind a book, or print your own story, you'll find clear and simple instructions for all kinds of crafts. You'll also discover that books can come in all shapes and sizes.

Awards
Bookworks: Making Books by Hand was selected as a Minnesota Book Award Winner for children's nonfiction in 1996