Andronik, Catherine M.

PERSONAL:

Female.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Bridgeport, CT.

CAREER:

High-school library media specialist and author.

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION; FOR CHILDREN

Quest for a King: Searching for the Real King Arthur, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1989.

Kindred Spirit: A Biography of L.M. Montgomery, Creator of Anne of Green Gables, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1993.

Prince of Humbug: A Life of P.T. Barnum, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1994.

Hatshepsut, His Majesty, Herself, illustrated by Joseph Daniel Fiedler, Atheneum (New York, NY), 2001.

Copernicus: Founder of Modern Astronomy, Enslow Publishers (Berkeley Heights, NJ), 2002.

Wildly Romantic: The English Romantic Poets—The Mad, the Bad, and the Dangerous, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2007.

Contributor to several editions of School Library Management Notebook, published by Linworth Publishing (Worthington, OH), 1994, 2003.

SIDELIGHTS:

In addition to her career as a library media specialist in a Connecticut high school, Catherine M. Andronik is a biographer and writer whose works include Copernicus: Founder of Modern Astronomy; Hatshepsut, His Majesty, Herself; Prince of Humbug: A Life of P.T. Barnum; and Wildly Romantic: The English Romantic Poets—The Mad, the Bad, and the Dangerous. Enriched by the author's extensive research, Wildly Romantic was cited by Booklist reviewer Hazel Rochman for its "open writing style," and Chris Sherman noted in the same periodical of Prince of Humbug that Andronik's "enthusiasm for her subject is evident in her lively account."

Part of Enslow's "Great Minds of Science" nonfiction series, Copernicus takes young readers back to sixteenth-century Poland and the work of a revolutionary scientist, while in Hatshepsut, His Majesty, Herself, the only female queen to rule in ancient Egypt is brought to life in a picture book for children. In School Library Journal, Linda Wadleigh praised Copernicus as a "highly readable" biography featuring a "clearly written text" and extensive illustrations. Andronik's "sophisticated discussion of lineage and royal customs makes [Hatshepsut, His Majesty, Herself] … best suited to older readers," according to a Publishers Weekly contributor, the critic adding that Joseph Daniel Fiedler's "stately" illustrations make Andronik's royal subject "all the more real and intriguing." In School Library Journal Beth Tegart dubbed the book "readable and appealing," adding that the author's "factual style" features "anecdotes and personal tidbits that make Hatshepsut's story a memorable one." "Archaeologists continue to piece together Hatshepsut's story," a Horn Book contributor concluded, noting that in Hatshepsut, His Majesty, Herself "Andronik makes their story no less intriguing."

Geared for young-adult readers, Wildly Romantic introduces the cadre of early nineteenth-century writers that includes Lord Byron, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats, and William Wordsworth. Considered notorious rebels in their day, these young men (and women) revolutionized poetry by rejecting the formal, stilted language of tradition in exchange for an expression of feelings and strong emotion in everyday language. The Romantics' rejection of the lifestyle of older generations should resonate with modern teens; drug abuse in the form of opium addiction and extramarital affairs also characterized much of the lives of these creative and often brilliant writers. Andronik "pulls readers into the soap operaesque lives of the writers while skillfully weaving in discussion of the literary tradition and the historical context in which they operated," noted Jill Heritage Maza in her School Library Journal review of the book. While a Kirkus Reviews writer maintained that the author concentrates on "the most sensational (and often the least documented) details of these poets' lives" rather than their literary philosophy, Rochman concluded that in Wildly Romantic Andronik's inclusion of many of the Romantics' best-know verses within her text allow that the poet's "controlled, exquisite lines will speak to teens about the lyrical use of everyday language."

Other books by Andronik also bring to life memorable lives of interest to young readers. In Quest for a King: Searching for the Real King Arthur, she introduces the web of myth that has grown up around Britain's legendary king, then explores the factual history that inspired such tales. Turning to Canada, she outlines the life and career of one of Canada's most beloved children's writers in Kindred Spirit: A Biography of L.M. Montgomery, Creator of Anne of Green Gables.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 1, 1993, Kay Weisman, review of Kindred Spirit: A Biography of L.M. Montgomery, Creator of Anne of Green Gables, p. 510; December 15, 1994, Chris Sherman, review of Prince of Humbugs: A Life of P.T. Barnum, p. 744; April 15, 2007, Hazel Rochman, review of Wildly Romantic: The English Romantic Poets—The Mad, the Bad, and the Dangerous, p. 821.

Horn Book, March, 2001, review of Hatshepsut, His Majesty, Herself, p. 223.

Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2007, review of Wildly Romantic.

Publishers Weekly, July 28, 1989, review of Quest for a King: Searching for the Real King Arthur, p. 221; January 29, 2001, review of Hatshepsut, His Majesty, Herself, p. 89.

School Library Journal, November, 1989, Ruth M. McConnell, Quest for a King, p. 129; November, 1993, Pat Katka, review of Kindred Spirit, p. 128; February, 1995, Carolyn Angus, review of Prince of Humbug, p. 115; March, 2001, Beth Tegart, review of Hatshepsut, His Majesty, Herself, p. 259; June, 2002, Linda Wadleigh, review of Copernicus: Founder of Modern Astronomy, p. 150; April, 2007, Jill Heritage Maza, review of Wildly Romantic, p. 154.

Voice of Youth Advocates, December, 1989, Quest for a King, p. 294; December, 1993, review of Kindred Spirit, p. 317; June, 1995, review of Prince of Humbug, p. 112; April, 2007, Mary Ann Harlan, review of Wildly Romantic, p. 74.