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Jacqueline Jules — Life and Work
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This site includes Jacqueline Jules’s biography, photos, links, and more.
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Jacqueline Jules is a prolific writer of children’s books, a poet, a teacher, and a librarian. Her literary output is impressive: She has written over 20 books for children, including her Zapato Power series and several that have won awards. Ms. Jules’s sensitivity to themes that engage children is evident in her choice of topics such as being away at camp, being at a new school and unable to communicate in English, being from a different culture in America, and so on. Her skill at retelling religious stories comes through in her series of bible stories. Jacqueline Jules’s has contributed three books to our Wisdom Tales imprint. The first was the multi-award-winning Never Say a Mean Word Again: A Tale from Medieval Spain, which was illustrated by Durga Yael Bernhard. Ms. Jules’s second contribution was Feathers for Peacock, beautifully illustrated by Helen Cann.
Jacqueline Jules’s most recent book for Wisdom Tales is The Generous Fish. It is the story of a young boy named Reuven who takes a verse from scripture to “cast your bread upon the waters” (Ecclesiastes 11:1) quite literally. The result of his daily act is a giant talking fish with golden scales! Boy and fish spend idyllic days together until the villagers realize those scales are real gold. Every villager has good reason to ask for one. The fish says he has plenty to share. But he grows weak from giving away too much, too fast. Through this friendship of boy and fish, Jules has created an environmental fable sure to generate discussion in the classroom and at home. Ms. Jules also added an author’s note at the end of the book which gives some biblical sources on human interaction with the environment. Frances Tyrrell’s finely detailed illustrations delightfully capture a child’s innocent love for the natural world.
Jacqueline Jules knew from a young age that she wanted to become a writer. Of this goal, she has written, “I have always wanted to be a writer. In third grade, my teacher gave everyone a strip of construction paper and asked us to write down what we wanted to be when we grew up. In my newly acquired cursive, I wrote ‘writer.’ This is my earliest, most distinct memory of elementary school.” Among the distinctions that Jacqueline Jules has won for her books, her book Duck for Turkey Day was on the 2010 National Council for the Social Studies list of Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People.
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Books by Jacqueline Jules for Wisdom Tales Press (an imprint of World Wisdom):
- The Generous Fish, by Jacqueline Jules and illustrated by Frances Tyrrell
- Feathers for Peacock, by Jacqueline Jules and illustrated by Helen Cann
- Winner in the “Children’s Picture Book: Hardcover Fiction” category of the 2016 USA “Best Book” Awards
- Silver Medal in the “Interior Design” category of the 2016 Midwest Book Awards
- Never Say a Mean Word Again: A Tale from Medieval Spain (author, illustrated by Durga Yael Bernhard)
- Chosen as an Honor Book in the 2015 Sydney Taylor Book Awards, “Younger Reader” category (sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries)
- Finalist of the 2014 National Jewish Book Awards in the category “Illustrated Children’s Books” (sponsored by the Jewish Book Council)
- 2014 Aesop Accolade, awarded by the Children’s Folklore Section of the American Folklore Society
- Finalist in the “Children's Picture Book: Hardcover Fiction” category of the USA “Best Books 2014” Awards
- Honorable Mention in the “Picture Book” category of the 2014 Middle East Book Awards
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In a review of Never Say a Mean Word Again in ForeWord Reviews, Beth VanHouten wrote:“[Ms.] Jules has crafted a folk tale that is sure to please. She writes in a gracious and enjoyable way, with simplicity and humor.…”
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Jacqueline Jules has her own website with much more information on her life, her books, and her poetry. To visit her page, click here.
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The Wisdom Tales Press website also has an author page on Jacqueline Jules with more information on her life and with links to the full book page on Never Say a Mean Word Again. To read that author page, click here.
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