Jim Murphy (author)

{{Infobox person

| name = Jim Murphy

| image = Author Jim Murphy (42678489051) (cropped).jpg

| caption = Murphy in 2018

| birth_date = {{birth date|1947|09|25}}

| birth_place = Newark, New Jersey, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2022|05|01|1947|09|25}}

| death_place = Woodstock, New York, U.S.

| occupation = Author

| spouse = Elaine Kelso (divorced)
{{marriage|Alison Blank|1987}}

| children = 2

}}

James John Patrick Murphy (September 25, 1947 – May 1, 2022) was an American author. He wrote more than 35 nonfiction and fiction books for children, young adults, and general audiences, including more than 30 about American history. He won the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 2010 for his contribution in writing for teens.

Early life

Murphy was born in Newark, New Jersey, on September 25, 1947. His father, James K. Murphy, was employed as an accountant; his mother, Helen Irene, worked as bookkeeper and artist.{{cite news|title=Jim Murphy, children's author who humanized U.S. history, dies at 74|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/05/19/childrens-author-jim-murphy-dead/|first=Harrison|last=Smith|date=May 19, 2022|access-date=May 20, 2022|newspaper=The Washington Post}}{{cite news|title=Obituary: Jim Murphy|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/89358-obituary-jim-murphy.html|first=Shannon|last=Maughan|date=May 18, 2022|access-date=May 20, 2022|magazine=Publishers Weekly}} Murphy was raised in St. Stephen's parish in nearby Kearny. He studied English literature, history, and art history at Rutgers University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1970. He also set records while competing in track and field for the Scarlet Knights. Murphy finished the Radcliffe Publishing Course in the summer of 1970.

Career

After graduation, Murphy was employed in construction by his uncle. He then worked as an assistant editorial secretary at Seabury Press (which ultimately became Clarion Books) in New York City. He was eventually promoted to managing editor, before quitting in 1977 to become a full-time writer. He published his first book, Weird & Wacky Inventions, one year later, having initially written a manuscript for a fictional work that went into thousands of pages before discarding it in favor of nonfiction.

Murphy ultimately authored over 35 books for children and youths throughout his career. One of his early works, Tractors (1984), paved the way for his prevailing writing style of employing first-hand accounts and concentrating on the individuals involved in an event, instead of the event itself. This approach was evident in The Boys' War (1990) and Truce (2009), both of which showed the horrors of war using eyewitness reports from letters, journal entries, oral testimonies, and historic images.

Personal life

Murphy's first marriage was to Elaine Kelso. They eventually divorced. He later married Alison Blank in 1987. They met while working for Seabury Press and remained married until his death. Together, they had two children: Michael and Ben. Murphy and Blank were co-authors of Invincible Microbe: Tuberculosis and the Never-Ending Search for a Cure, published by Clarion in 2012.{{cite book|title=Invincible Microbe: Tuberculosis and the Never-ending Search for a Cure|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5jUzoPf66SwC|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|year=2012|last1=Murphy|first1=Jim|last2=Blank|first2=Alison|isbn=9780618535743}}

Murphy died on May 1, 2022, at his home in Woodstock, New York. He was 74; the cause of death was not known.

Awards

The ALA Margaret A. Edwards Award recognizes one writer and a particular body of work for "significant lasting contribution to young-adult literature". Murphy won the annual award in 2010, citing five nonfiction books published from 1992 to 2003: The Long Road to Gettysburg, The Great Fire, A Young Patriot, Blizzard! The Storm That Changed America, and An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 (‡). According to the citation, "Murphy's well-researched books bring history alive through multiple narratives involving young people. Primary sources, maps, photos, illustrations and dialogue reveal the drama of historical events, making Murphy's books fast-paced reading of particular interest for young adults. The reader participates in the lives of these individuals and the events that shaped history."

Beside the Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in young-adult literature, the American librarians have named Murphy a runner-up for annual Newbery Medals twice, in 1996 for The Great Fire and in 2004 for An American Plague. The Newbery is the ALA's premier book award for children's literature.

Murphy won the ALA award for children's information books, the Robert F. Sibert Medal, for The American Plague in 2004 and he was a runner-up for BLIZZARD! in 2001. The American Plague was also a finalist for the 2003 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.

Murphy also won three NCTE Orbis Pictus Awards, three Jefferson Cup Awards, two SCBWI Golden Kite Awards, The Washington Post/Children's Book Guild Award for Distinguished Nonfiction, and the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award. In 2013 he received the Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers' Literature, presented by the Tulsa Library Trust.

Selected works

=Nonfiction=

class="wikitable"

|+Key

| {{double-dagger|alt=2010 Edwards Award}}

| Denotes five nonfiction book cited by the panel of American librarians who awarded Murphy the 2010 Edwards Award.

{{Cite book |title=Weird & Wacky Inventions |date=1978 |publisher=Crown Publishers |isbn=9781634502030 |author-mask=2 |first=Jim |last=Murphy}}
{{Cite book |title=The Boys' War: Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk About the Civil War |title-link=The Boys' War: Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk About the Civil War |date=1990 |publisher=Clarion Books |isbn=9781439578841 |author-mask=2 |first=Jim |last=Murphy}}
{{Cite book |title=The Long Road to Gettysburg |date=1992 |publisher=Clarion Books |isbn=9780395559659 |author-mask=2 |first=Jim |last=Murphy}}‡
{{Cite book |title=Across America on an Emigrant Train |date=1993 |publisher=Clarion Books |isbn=9780756991449 |author-mask=2 |first=Jim |last=Murphy |others=Adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s account}}
{{Cite book |title=The Great Fire |title-link=The Great Fire (Murphy novel) |date=1995 |publisher=Scholastic Corporation |isbn=9780590472678 |author-mask=2 |first=Jim |last=Murphy}}‡
{{Cite book |title=A Young Patriot: The American Revolution as Experienced by One Boy |title-link=A Young Patriot |date=1995 |publisher=Clarion Books |isbn=9780395605233 |author-mask=2 |first=Jim |last=Murphy |others=Adaptation of Joseph Plumb Martin’s account}}‡
{{Cite book |title=Gone A-Whaling: The Lure of the Sea and the Hunt for the Great Whale |date=1998 |publisher=Clarion Books |isbn=9780395698471 |author-mask=2 |first=Jim |last=Murphy}}
{{Cite book |title=Blizzard! The Storm That Changed America |date=2000 |publisher=Scholastic |isbn=9780590673099 |author-mask=2 |first=Jim |last=Murphy}}‡
{{Cite book |title=An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 |title-link=An American Plague |date=2003 |publisher=Clarion Books |isbn=9780395776087 |author-mask=2 |first=Jim |last=Murphy}}‡
{{Cite book |title=Inside the Alamo |date=2003 |publisher=Delacorte Books |isbn=9780385900928 |author-mask=2 |first=Jim |last=Murphy}}
{{Cite book |title=Desperate Journey |date=2006 |publisher=Scholastic |isbn=9780439078061 |author-mask=2 |first=Jim |last=Murphy}}
{{Cite book |title=The Real Benedict Arnold |date=2007 |publisher=Clarion Books |isbn=9780395776094 |author-mask=2 |first=Jim |last=Murphy}}
{{Cite book |title=A Savage Thunder: Antietam and the Bloody Road to Freedom |date=2009 |publisher=Margaret K. McElderry Books |isbn=9780689876332 |author-mask=2 |first=Jim |last=Murphy}}
{{Cite book |title=Truce: The Day the Soldiers Stopped Fighting |date=2009 |publisher=Scholastic |isbn=9780545130493 |author-mask=2 |first=Jim |last=Murphy}}
{{Cite book |title=The Crossing: How George Washington Saved the American Revolution |title-link=The Crossing (Murphy book) |date=2010 |publisher=Scholastic |isbn=9780439691864 |author-mask=2 |first=Jim |last=Murphy}}
{{Cite book |title=The Giant and How He Humbugged America |date=2012 |publisher=Scholastic |isbn=9780545537759 |author-mask=2 |first=Jim |last=Murphy}}
{{Cite book |title=Invincible Microbe: Tuberculosis and the Never-Ending Search for a Cure |date=2012 |publisher=Clarion Books |isbn=9780618535743 |author-mask=2 |first=Jim |last=Murphy |others=Co-written with Alison Blank}}

=Fiction=

==Horror==

{{Cite book |title=Night Terrors |publisher=Scholastic |year=1994 |isbn=9780590453424 |first=Jim |last=Murphy |author-mask=2}}

==Children's Picture Books==

{{Cite book |title=The Last Dinosaur |publisher=Scholastic |year=1988 |isbn=9780590410984 |first=Jim |last=Murphy |author-mask=2 |others=Illustrated by Mark Alan Weatherby}}
{{Cite book |title=The Call of the Wolves |publisher=Scholastic |year=1989 |isbn=9780590419406 |first=Jim |last=Murphy |author-mask=2 |others=Illustrated by Mark Alan Weatherby}}

==Dear America Books==

{{Cite book |title=My Face to the Wind: The Diary of Sarah Jane Price, a Prairie Teacher |publisher=Scholastic |year=2001 |isbn=9780590438100 |first=Jim |last=Murphy |author-mask=2}}
{{Cite book |title=The Journal of James Edmond Pease, a Civil War Union Soldier |publisher=Scholastic |year=1998 |isbn=9780590438148 |first=Jim |last=Murphy |author-mask=2}}
{{Cite book |title=West to a Land of Plenty: The Diary of Teresa Angelino Viscardi |publisher=Scholastic |year=1998 |isbn=9780590738880 |first=Jim |last=Murphy |author-mask=2}}
{{Cite book |title=The Journal of Brian Doyle: A Greenhorn on an Alaskan Whaling Ship |publisher=Scholastic |year=2003 |isbn=9780439078146 |first=Jim |last=Murphy |author-mask=2}}

References

{{reflist |30em |refs=

[http://www.jimmurphybooks.com "About the Author"]. Jim Murphy: Making History Come Alive. Retrieved March 13, 2013.

[http://www.tulsaworld.com/scene/article.aspx?subjectid=67&articleid=20130210_67_G4_CUTLIN31280 "Jim Murphy wins 2013 Anne Zarrow Award"]. James D. Watts Jr. Tulsa World. February 10, 2013. Retrieved February 12, 2013.

For vital data Library of Congress Authorities cites 1978 communication with publisher, 1994 communication with Murphy, and the Scholastic Books website.[http://lccn.loc.gov/n78018741] Retrieved September 26, 2013.

[http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/contributor/jim-murphy "Jim Murphy"]. Scholastic Teachers. Retrieved September 26, 2013.

[http://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklistsawards/bookawards/margaretaedwards/maeprevious/2010edwards_murphy "2010 Margaret A. Edwards Award Winner Jim Murphy"]. Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). American Library Association (ALA).

[http://www.ala.org/yalsa/edwards-award "Edwards Award"]. YALSA. ALA. Retrieved 2013-10-11.

[http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/sibertmedal/sibertpast/sibertmedalpast "Robert F. Sibert Medal and Honor Books, 2001–present"]. Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC). ALA. Retrieved March 13, 2013.

[http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberyhonors/newberymedal "Newbery Medal and Honor Books, 1922–Present"]. ALSC. ALA. Retrieved March 13, 2013.

}}

External links

{{official website |www.jimmurphybooks.com/}}
[http://archives.lib.byu.edu/repositories/14/resources/11233 Jim Murphy papers, MSS 2244] at [https://sites.lib.byu.edu/sc/ L. Tom Perry Special Collections], Brigham Young University

Category:1947 births

Category:2022 deaths

Category:20th-century American historians

Category:20th-century American male writers

Category:20th-century American novelists

Category:21st-century American historians

Category:21st-century American male writers

Category:21st-century American novelists

Category:American children's writers

Category:American historical novelists

Category:American male non-fiction writers

Category:American male novelists