(The book follows the life of the man who was President of...)
The book follows the life of the man who was President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints from 1951 to 1970 and whose administration was a period of worldwide growth for the Church.
(The book follows the life of Joseph F. Smith, the sixth P...)
The book follows the life of Joseph F. Smith, the sixth President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, described as an example of the "best character of the Mormon people."
The illustrated story of President George Albert Smith
(The book follows the life of the eighth president of the ...)
The book follows the life of the eighth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, who was in charge of the Church Centennial of the pioneer movement to Utah as celebrated in 1947.
(Nine-year-old Dora, who has been kept out of school becau...)
Nine-year-old Dora, who has been kept out of school because of her speech impediment, dreams of learning to speak normally as her family joins a group of other Mormons journeying from Utah to New Mexico in 1910.
(Born and raised on a New Mexico homestead and unable to a...)
Born and raised on a New Mexico homestead and unable to attend school, Dora finally got the chance at age ten and thrived in her new environment where she advanced quickly, made friends, and gained important skills that allowed her to see a future filled with possibilities.
(Children who wonder why giraffes cannot laugh, how hummin...)
Children who wonder why giraffes cannot laugh, how hummingbirds fly, and why raccoons are afraid of the light will enjoy a colorfully illustrated collection of simple rhymes in this book, that ask silly questions about many creatures.
(Each title of the book features full-color, often hilario...)
Each title of the book features full-color, often hilarious illustrations and engaging stories that always involve a young child figuring out concepts or solving problems on his or her own.
(In Wild Fibonacci, readers will discover the mysterious c...)
In Wild Fibonacci, readers will discover the mysterious code in a special shape called an equiangular spiral. Why so special? It mysteriously appears in the natural world: a sundial shell curves to fit the spiral.
Joy H. Hulme is an American award-winning writer and designer. She is also a contributor to periodicals, including Better Homes and Gardens, Good Housekeeping, and Sunset Magazine.
Background
Joy was born in 1922 in Cottonwood, Utah, United States. She was rich in all the things a child needs: loving parents, siblings and cousins to play with, woods to wander in, Grandpa’s next-door farm fields to explore, orchard trees to climb for fresh-fruit snacks, rocks and logs to build with, adobe bricks to melt for sculpting clay, a huge lawn for tumbling, and a wonderful oversize dad-built backyard playground with a swing, slide, glider, sandbox, and playhouse.
Hulme began her career as a contributor to magazines, selling stories, poems, articles, and Christmas crafts to both adult and children’s periodicals. For many years, however, the author’s dreams of publishing a children’s book were frustrated by repeated rejections. Eventually, Hulme became part of a San Francisco Bay-area writers’ group that included Patricia Polacco and Elisa Klevin. “This was my biggest breakthrough,” Hulme once told CA. “I was exposed to many opportunities to learn from and be encouraged by other writers and illustrators.” Through this association, Hulme found her first agent, who gave the author “just what I needed to absorb the rejection and heartbreak and resubmit my books instead of stashing them away to mildew in a drawer.”
Hulme’s first major children’s book was A Stable in Bethlehem. Since it first appeared in 1989, this counting book has become a Christmas favorite. Hulme followed Stable with The Other Side of the Door and Climbing the Rainbow, middle-grade historical books about a young girl who rises above a disability; and Sea Squares, which combines three of her loves - “math, biology, and wonderful words.” In this picture book, the author introduces young children to the concepts of multiplication and square numbers through rhyming scenarios featuring creatures from the ocean. Hulme relied upon a similar format in Sea Sums, in which the concepts of addition and subtraction are introduced in rhymes detailing the antics of other sea animals. Critics noted that both of these books attempt to fill a striking need for math-concept books for early readers. Booklist reviewer Carolyn Phelan praised the abundance of information about coral reefs and their inhabitants, along with the visual and verbal reinforcement of the numerical concepts introduced, all of which make Sea Sums “a useful supplement to science and math units.”
In Counting by Kangaroos Hulme once again uses nature to teach math. She encourages children to count by twos, threes, and so forth, by picturing groups of Australian marsupials as they fly out of the pouches of three kangaroos. The text is composed of “verse lively as a jump rope rhyme,” according to Suzy Schmidt in Horn Book. Hulme’s poetry collection.
For middle-graders who want to write their own poetry, Hulme prepared How to Write, Recite, and Delight in All Kinds of Poetry with co-author Donna W. Guthrie. Using examples written by children, the authors introduce the basic concepts of rhyme, rhythm, and repetition, and then proceed to the various forms of poetry, including free verse and haiku. School Library Journal critic Jean Pollock praised the “open, appealing, and approachable format” used in this work and the applicability of the examples to a variety of age groups.
Quotations:
In describing her career, Joy Hulme observed: “Life as an author is much different from life as a writer! At last my efforts have been validated ... At an age when most people have retired, my career is just beginning. My part-time-everything life, resulting from a wide range of interests and knowledge, and my child-like fascination with the ingenious intricacy and beauty of nature, is proving very valuable to me as an author of children’s books. It is always my goal to encourage the creative awareness that is inborn in youngsters and to keep it alive in them forever.
“No life is long enough to run out of fresh surprises if we watch out for them ... I like to be accurate about facts, fanciful about fiction, and to combine truth and imagination - to make learning as much fun for others as it is for me by creating in a light-hearted manner ... It is my aim that a child of any age can become a little better in some way as a result of reading what I have written.”
Membership
Joy is a member of Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.
Connections
Joy is married, her husband's name is Mel. They have five children.