This award-winning author graduated from Clark University and earned a Ph.D. at Columbia University in History. Born in 1930 in New York City, Collier is an active member in many organizations such as the Connecticut Historical Commission and the State Museum Advisory Board. His honors include the Kidger Prize for Teaching, the Jane Addams Peace Prize, and the Newbery Honor. He previously worked as a junior high school teacher. Collier enjoys writing for children because he wants to show them that history is both interesting and important. His specialty is in the Revolutionary Era and New England. Christopher Collier lives with his wife in Orange, Connecticut and is the father of three. He is currently Professor Emeritus of American History at the University of Connecticut.

Born in New York City in 1928, author James Lincoln Collier is beloved by young readers in particular for the award-winning historical novels he has written with his brother, historian Christopher Collier. A graduate of Hamilton College, Collier served in the U.S. Army after college and then worked as a magazine editor for several years. Collier always intended to be a writer, however, considering it to be "the family business."

Though he began his career writing for adults, in 1965 Collier published his first book for children, the nonfiction Battleground: The United States Army in World War II. He branched out into fiction for young readers with the adventure story The Teddy Bear Habit: or, How I Became a Winner in 1967. Perhaps his most famous children's book, however, is the Newbery Honor Book he wrote with his brother, the popular Revolutionary War story My Brother Sam Is Dead.

The father of two children, Collier is also an accomplished trombone player. He lives in New York City, where he continues to write and play jazz music.

A Newbery Honor Book

A National Book Award Nominee

An ALA Notable Children's Book

Jane Addams Children's Honor Book

Mark Twain Award

Phoenix Award Honor Book

★ "A moving junior novel.... How Sam's fate occurs... is the wrenching part in this story of how the Revolutionary War affects the Meekers, a nonpartisian family of the Tory town of Redding, Connecticut. The story is told through the young Tim Meeker, who guardedly watches the war edge closer and closer until it engulfs his family... A sobering tale that will leave readers with a more mature view of history and war." --Booklist, starred review

"Young Tim Meeker looks on as his Loyalist father and older brother Sam, a 'rebel' partisan, confront each other but can never make much sense of the political controversy.... Assumes for once that children can think." --New York Times Book Review

"With its sharp revelation of the human aspects of Revolutionary War life and its probing of political views and divided loyalties, this stirring and authoritative novel earns a place beside our best historical fiction.... A memorable piece of writing." --Horn Book

Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks

Pub date: 2005-06-01

Length: 240 pages