The Courage to Be Compassionate: A Tribute to Virginia Euwer Wolff

The next time I saw her I told her that it was my new favorite book. The entire trilogy is about the power of language- the tragedy of its inaccessibility for society's weakest members; its redemptive power for those who do gain access; the potential it holds for young people who live in housing projects- kids who have no other key to self-knowledge and understanding the larger world. In my nominating statement I said that Jinny is a "writer's writer"-many writers look up to her pitch-perfect use of language to create luminous images and stories that move readers with their grace, forgiveness, and hope.