This welcome addition to the Women of Achievement series provides a glimpse into the life and writings of Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison. The granddaughter of sharecroppers, born and raised in Lorain, OH, Morrison grew up in a strong, supportive family that encouraged learning and striving to be the best. Reading and literature became touchstones for Morrison all through high school, Howard University, and later graduate school at Cornell. Morrison became an English instructor in Texas but then returned to teach at her alma mater, Howard. Among her students were many who became prominent in the Civil Rights Movement. As her marriage began to collapse, she turned to writing. Joining a writer's group, Morrison began to frame the story that would eventually become The Bluest Eye. While working as an editor to support her two sons, she honed her story based on the memory of a childhood conversation with a little friend. After several rejections, the novel was published and Morrison, trusting her instincts and following her strong beliefs, has continued to create characters reflective of African Americans, especially powerful women. Through fiction, nonfiction, drama, and children's stories, Morrison has combined love of words with the need to confront the African American experience. As an editor of other authors of color, she has become a model and inspiration for younger African American women writers. Throughout a brilliant writing and teaching career at Ivy League universities, Morrison has reached deeply into human experiences and emotions, creating Beloved, a P ulitzer Prize-winning novel, and Song of Solomon, Jazz, and Paradise. Morrison, the first African American woman to receivethe Nobel Prize for Literature, declared her belief in the importance of writing as she accepted the prize: "We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives." Today Morrison continues to challenge herself to write and explore the uses of language. This brief biography is an informative introduction to the writer and her accomplishments. (Women of Achievement) KLIATT Codes: JS—Recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2001, Chelsea House, 112p. illus. bibliog. index., $9.95. Ages 13 to 18. Reviewer: Mary T. Gerrity; Upper Marlboro, MD , November 2001 (Vol. 35, No. 6)