Elizabeth Partridge (born September 1, 1951) is an American writer, the author of more than a dozen books from young-adult nonfiction to picture books to photography books. Her books include Marching for Freedom (2009, Viking), as well the biographies John Lennon: All I Want Is the Truth (Viking, 2005), This Land Was Made for You and Me: The Life and Music of Woody Guthrie (Viking, 2002), and Restless Spirit: The Life and Work of Dorothea Lange (Viking, 1999).
Partridge is the daughter of photographer Rondal Partridge and the granddaughter of photographer Imogen Cunningham and etcher Roi Partridge.
Partridge has been a National Book Award finalist, an ALA Michael L. Printz Award runner-up, and twice a Boston Globe–Horn Book Award runner-up. She has won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the SCBWI Golden Kite Award, and the Jane Addams Children's Book Award. In 2023, she won the Sibert Medal for her book Seen and Unseen: What Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake, and Ansel Adams’s Photographs Reveal About the Japanese American Incarceration.
Partridge is on the faculty of the Vermont College of Fine Arts in the MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults. She chaired the National Book Award Committee for Young People's Literature in 2007 and has served on the Los Angeles Times Book Prize Committee and the SCBWI Golden Kite Award committee.
Contents
Selected works
Young adult nonfiction
Restless Spirit: the Life and Work of Dorothea Lange (Viking, 1998)
This Land Was Made For You and Me: The Life and Songs of Woody Guthrie (Viking, 2002)
John Lennon: All I Want Is the Truth (Viking, 2005)
Marching for Freedom: Walk Together, Children, and Don't You Grow Weary (Viking 2009)
Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam (Viking, 2018)
Seen and Unseen: What Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake, and Ansel Adams’s Photographs Reveal About the Japanese American Incarceration (Chronicle Books, 2022)
Adult nonfiction
Dorothea Lange: A Visual Life (Smithsonian University Press, 1993)
Quizzical Eye: The Photography of Rondal Partridge (Heyday Press, 2003)
Novels
Clara and the Hoodoo Man. (Dutton Children's Books, 1996)
Dogtag Summer. (Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2011)
Picture books
Pigs Eggs, Illustrated by Martha Weston. (Globe Books, 2000)
Oranges on Golden Mountain, Illustrated by Aki Sogabi. (Dutton Children's Books, 2002)
Moon Glowing, Illustrated by Joan Paley.(Dutton Children's Books, 2002)
Kogi's Mysterious Journey, Illustrated by Aki Sogabi. (Dutton Children's Books, 2003)
Whistling, Illustrated by Anna Grossnickle Hines. (Harper Collins, 2003)
Big Cat Pepper, Illustrated by Lauren Castille. (Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2009)
Essays and short stories
"Looking for America," Open Your Eyes: Extraordinary Experiences in Faraway Places. (Viking, 2003)
"This Was America, 1960," John F. Kennedy: The Inaugural Address. (Viking, 2010)
Awards and honors
Marching for Freedom: Walk Together Children and Don't You Grow Weary
Boston Globe-Horn Book Award runner-up
Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature
Jane Addams Children's Book Award
School Library Journal's Battle of the Books
2011Tayshas Reading List (2011)
Int'l Reading Association Teachers’ Choice Children's Book Council 2010:
Notable Social Studies Trade Books
International Reading Association 2010 Notable Books for a Global Society
Capitol Choices Noteworthy Books for Children
ALA Notable Children's Book
ALA Best Books for Young Adults
Booklist Editors' Choice: Books for Youth
Horn Book Fanfare Choice
Kirkus Reviews Best Children and YA Books of 2009
Publishers Weekly Best Children's Books of 2009
School Library Journal Best Books of the Year (2009)
Booklist Top Ten Black History Books for Youth
New York Public Library's Children's Books 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing