About

Maxine Rose Schur is a children's book author and travel essayist. She is the author of the middle grade novel, The Circlemaker which Publisher's Weekly said "maintains edge-of-the -seat tension until the very last page." Her books have won numerous awards. Her tall tale book, Gullible Gus, is a rollicking tall tale which was named a Junior Library Guild selection and The Peddler's Gift and When I Left my Village won both won the Sydney Taylor Award for the Most Outstanding Contribution to Jewish Children's Literature in North America.

Maxine is also the author of the award-winning travel memoir, Places in Time, a collection of evocative essays that recount her adventurous journey around the world.

Her most recent picture books are Finley Finds his Fortune, Child of the Sea, and Marielle in Paris and Pigs Dancing Jig.
Her advanced picture book, Brave with Beauty, was named Best Picture Book of the Year by the Northern Book Reviewers Association. The story tells of the remarkable 14th century Timurid Queen Goharshad and her extraordinary courage in promoting the arts from her throne in Herat, Afghanistan.

Maxine's upcoming books for 2023 are the middle grade novel, The Word Dancer and the picture books, When Zissel Got Rich and A Tale of Bread and Thread

Maxine Rose Schur teaches workshops and speaks on both children's book writing and writing travel literature at colleges and conferences nationwide.
www.maxineroseschur.com

Featured Work

Brave with Beauty

2019

Seven centuries ago, when the great caravans journeyed to the edges of the world, there lived a girl who loved all things of beauty.

Her name was Goharshad.

This is the extraordinary story of Queen Goharshad, a 15th-century monarch, who many historians now believe was the one of the most powerful women in world history. Ruling from the Timurid artistic and cultural center of Herat in western Afghanistan, Queen Goharshad ushered in a remarkable period when poetry, music, calligraphy, painting, and the sciences flourished as never before. A poet and an architect, she designed some of the most beautiful structures ever built on earth.

This story is a celebration of a remarkable woman—talented, generous, benevolent, and brave—whose achievements are an inspiration for young readers to use their strengths to make the world a more beautiful place.

Age Range: 7-9 years
Type: Hardcover and Paperback, 42 pages
Publisher: Yali Books
Language: English
ISBN-13: 978-1949528978 (Hardcover), 978-1949528961 (Paperback), 978-1949528954 (eBook)

Other Works

  • The Word Dancer

    2019

  • Marielle in Paris

    2017

  • Places in Time: Reflections on a Journey

    2013

  • Gullible Gus

    2010

  • There's a Babirusa in my Bathtub!

    2010

  • The Story of Ruth

    2005

  • When I Left My Village

    2004

  • The Peddler's Gift

    1999

  • Sacred Shadows

    1995

  • The Circlemaker

    1994

  • Day of Delight

    1994

  • The Marvelous Maze

    1988

  • Hannah Szenes: A Song of Light

    1986

  • Samantha's Surprise

    1986

  • The Witch at the Wellington Library

    1980

  • Weka Won't Learn

    1979

Awards and Recognition

  • Sydney Taylor Award 1994 and 1999, Louis B. Dessauer Award 1994, Sugarman Family Award 1999, SCBWI Work in Progress Grant 1994, 1999 Smithsonian Notable Book of the Century, 1999 Bay Area Book Reviewers Association Award Nominee, A Bank Street College of Education 1999 Best Children’s Book of the Year, New York Public Library List of 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing , A Year 2000 IRA Notable Book for a Global Society, 2005 Parents' Choice Award, 1987 and 1997 National Jewish Book Award Finalist