Snow White
and the Seven Bears

Russell Michaels was five years old. He lived with his parents and his little sister Elisa in an apartment in New York City. Russell's friends Teddy and Nora lived in the same apartment building.

When June came, Russell graduated from the Sunshine Nursery School. On the last day of school there was a party. Everyone ate cupcakes and ice cream, even though it was still morning. It was the first time Russell had ever eaten ice cream before lunch. He hoped they would eat ice cream every morning in the new kindergarten class he would go to in September.

"I will be in Teddy's class!" Russell told his mother.

"In September, when you are in kindergarten, Teddy will be in first grade," Mrs. Michaels explained. "He has finished kindergarten."

It wasn't fair. No matter how hard Russell tried, he was never able to catch up.

His mother reminded him that since his birthday was a month before Teddy's, there would be four weeks every year when both boys would be the same age. But it was still a long, long time until his birthday came again.

That afternoon, Russell, Teddy, and Nora were playing together. Teddy and Nora's grandpa was visiting, too.

"Kindergarten is fun," Teddy told Russell. "You will like it."

"Kindergarten is easy," Nora said. "First grade is easy, too. But second grade is hard. Wait till you get to second grade. Then you'll see.

Second grade seemed much too far away for Russell to worry about now. He was thinking about what they should do today.

"Let's watch TV," Russell suggested.

"I don't want to," said Teddy.

"Do you know that when I was a little boy, we didn't have television?" Teddy's grandpa said.

"No television?"said Russell. "Then how did you watch your programs?"

"We couldn't," said Grandpa. "We listened to the radio. We would close our eyes and imagine what everything looked like."

Nora and Teddy and Russell all closed their eyes.

"I can't see anything," Russell said. "It's dark."

"Come sit with me here on the sofa," said Grandpa. "I'll tell you a story. You can close your eyes and imagine it."

"Oh, yes, said Nora. "Make up a story for us.

"No," said Russell. "I want to hear about Snow White and the Seven Bears."

"'Snow White and the Seven Bears'?" Nora laughed. "There's no such story. You mean 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.'"

"Nora's right," said Teddy. "You're wrong, Russell."

"No," Russell insisted. "I want to hear about Snow White and the Seven Bears."

"Dwarfs," said Nora.

"Dwarfs," said Teddy.

"Bears," shouted Russell. "I want a story about bears."

"How about 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears'?" said Nora. "That's a story about bears."

"I want to hear 'Snow White and the Seven Bears, '" said Russell, trying hard not to cry.

"Wait a minute," said Grandpa. "I think I know that one. It goes like this.

"Once upon a time, when Snow White was living with the Seven Dwarfs, she went for a walk in the forest. She started to pick some flowers to bring home to them. All at once she heard a voice. 'What are you doing, little girl?' said the voice."

"That sounds like the wolf who met Little Red Riding Hood in the forest," said Nora. "That's what he said."

"No," said Grandpa. "It wasn't a wolf."

"Was it a bear?" Russell guessed.

"How did you know?" asked Grandpa. "It certainly was. The bear was very small and he was lost. 'I went for a walk all by myself, ' hesaid, 'and now I can't find my way home.' Snow White was a very kind girl. She had some chewing gum in her pocket, and she gave it to the little bear. 'Do you live with a medium-size mama and a great big papa bear?' she asked.

"'Yes, ' said the little bear. 'And I also live with my baby sister and my three brother bears. We are quadruplets.'"

"What are quadruplets?" asked Russell.

"They're like twins," said Grandpa, "but there are four of them instead of two."

"Stop interrupting," said Nora. "What happened then?"

"Well, Snow White said to the little bear, 'I'll try to help you find your way home, but I don't want to get lost myself.'

"'Couldn't you leave a trail in the forest?' asked the little bear. 'I once saw some children do that. They left a trail of pebbles."'

"That was 'Hansel and Gretel, '" said Russell.

"Stop interrupting," said Teddy.

"Snow White felt. in her other pocket. There was a package of M&M candies. So, as she walked through the woods, she left a trail of green and yellow and orange candies. Pretty soon they came to a small house. 'Do you live there?' she asked the little bear.

"'No, ' said the bear. 'Bears don't live in houses. We live in eaves."'

"What about 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears'?" asked Teddy. "Those bears lived in a house."

"Funny you should mention that," said Grandpa. "Because who do you think lived in this house?"

"Who?" asked Russell.

"Goldilocks!" said Grandpa. "She came out of the door and she saw Snow White and the little bear. 'Where are you going?' she asked.

"'We're looking for the home of this little bear, ' Snow White told her.

"'Can I come with you?' asked Goldilocks.

"'Sure, ' they said.

"So the three ofthem kept on walking. Pretty soon they came upon a little girl in a red cape. She was picking flowers just like Snow White had been doing a little while before.

"Hi," Snow White called to her. 'Who are you picking flowers for?'"The little girl looked at Snow White, but she didn't answer...

Russell is getting more grown-up every day. He starts kindergarten, learns how to be a good big brother, takes the world's longest bath all by himself, learns to ride his two-wheeler birthday present--and has a lot of fun along the way!

Johanna Hurwitz is the author of over five dozen books for young readers. She is the recipient of many state awards, including the Texas Bluebonnet Award, the Kentucky Bluegrass Award, and the Garden State Children's Choice Award. She lives in Great Neck, NY.

Johanna Hurwitz always knew she wanted to be a writer. She started by telling stories to her brother, who is six years her junior, and she's been making up stories ever since. Born and raised in New York City, she earned her B.A. degree from Queens College and went on to receive a master's in library science from Columbia University. She embarked on a career as a children's librarian, but she never forgot that one day she wanted to write books, too.

She worked at the New York Public Library and in a variety of other public and school library positions. She also taught graduate courses in children's literature and storytelling at Queens College. When she and her husband, Uri — a college teacher and writer — and their children, Nomi and Beni, moved to Long Island, she continued her library work.

Although she had told original stories to her children, it was not until they were well along in school that Mrs. Hurwitz actually began to write down her stories. That's why, when children ask her how long it takes to write a book, she replies that her first, Busybody Nora, took her whole life.

But since then she has been writing with regularity, portraying with humor and sympathy the everyday incidents that are so important to children. She is particularly fond of seven- to nine-year-olds, because they are "so very open and get excited about small things," and she enjoys writing realistic fiction for and about them.

That these youngsters are equally fond of Mrs. Hurwitz's books is obvious. She has received many child-chosen state awards, including the Texas Bluebonnet Award, the Wyoming Indian Paintbrush Award, the Kentucky Bluegrass Award, the Garden State Children's Choice Award, the West Virginia Children's Book Award, and others.

In recent years, Johanna Hurwitz has crisscrossed the United States from Juneau, Alaska, to Jackson, Mississippi, and from San Diego, California, to St. Albans, Vermont. She has even spoken abroad, from Morocco to Mozambique and from Portugal to Nicaragua. On these trips she has met and spoken to schoolchildren, teachers, librarians, and parents. She has made many new friends and has often brought home new ideas for her next book.

In her own words...

I've been writing ever since I was a youngster. I told stories to my little brother and I wrote stories in blank notebooks that I kept under my bed. I've saved one of my early stories because a classmate illustrated it for me. Looking at it now, I see all my spelling mistakes and repetitious writing style. Luckily, my writing improved as I grew older.

When I was ten, I wrote a poem that was published in a Connecticut newspaper.

BOOKS

For me to read a book is still

And always will be quite a thrill.

For me to read a book is like

A boy when he rides his new two wheel Pike.

And when a bird comes north in spring

It's natural for him to sing.

I like to read books of science, fiction and mystery,

Books of poems, nature, and history.

And what is more, I'll read until I'm grown,

And then I'll write books of my own.

I was paid 50 cents. And my writing career had officially begun.

My parents told me that I should plan a second career as well. I decided to become a children's librarian. That way I was surrounded by books at work as well as at home.

BUSYBODY NORA was published in 1976. Since then, I've been writing one or two books a year. My ideas come from everywhere: my husband, children and cats have all given me ideas even when they aren't aware of it. But I also get ideas from keeping my eyes open: when I worked as a school librarian, I discovered that the third graders were studying about the food chain. That gave me the idea to write MUCH ADO ABOUT ALDO about Aldo Sossi who becomes a vegetarian to protest the consumption of crickets by the chameleons in his classroom; on vacation in Vermont, I met a woman who owned a llama and I began writing about Adam Fine who had A LLAMA IN THE FAMILY. My son was in a class with several boys named David and I wrote about David Bernstein who changed his name to Ali Baba Bernstein. My daughter started babysitting and I wrote about TOUGH-LUCK KAREN and her babysitting experiences. THE RABBI'S GIRLS is based on stories my mother told me about her childhood as one of a family with seven sisters. ("Seven sisters? No one Will believe that," my editor said. And so to make my story more realistic, I lopped off one of my aunts when I wrote the book.) An acquaintance told me that her two grandchildren were coming to spend the summer with her in our community and I got the idea for THE HOT &COLD SUMMER.

I never thought my stories would develop into so many series of books. However, once I create a new character they take on a life of their own. I find them talking to me in my imagination and telling me things that I should write about them. That's why after I wrote FARAWAY SUMMER, I suddenly felt the need to write DEAR EMMA. And now still another book about Dossi Rabinowitz and her friend Emma Meade is taking shape in my head. What's going to happen? What will the book be called? Those are surprises waiting for me to discover.