With her fourth novel, Walk Two Moons, author Sharon Creech found literary success, winning the celebrated Newbery Medal. The American author, who made her home in England for many years, soon proved that this was not a fluke, for with her 1997 title, Chasing Redbird, she was shortlisted for England's Whitbread Award, and several years later won a Christopher Award and Newbery Honor for The Wanderer, followed by yet another Christopher in 2002 for Love That Dog. Still, winning the Newbery Medal in 1995 is most definitely on Creech's list of firsts.

"On February 6th" of 1995, recalled Creech in comments reprinted in Horn Book, "I was home alone in England and had been wrestling all morning with a manuscript. Feeling ornery and frustrated, I fled to our backyard to vent one of my muffled screams (muffled because I am a headmaster's wife and it isn't seemly for me to scream too...