Park School librarian Laura Amy Schlitz’s latest book, The Hired Girl, was released on Tuesday September 8, 2015!

Lauded as a “master of children’s literature” by The New York Times Book Review, Laura Amy Schlitz is beginning her 25th year as a Park School librarian and storyteller. Her new book, The Hired Girl, is set in Baltimore in 1911 and notes the founding of The Park School.

For 24 years, hundreds of eager children have listened closely to the stories Laura has told that enhance their classroom curriculum. They have recited the monologues from her Newbery Medal-winning book, Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village, which were originally written for Park’s fifth graders. They have performed in plays she has written, and they have been honest critics for her books-in-progress. 

Laura is a spellbinding storyteller. Twenty-four years’ worth of students will testify to that. And since the publication of A Drowned Maiden’s Hair in 2006, readers around the world have also been captivated by the literary gifts of Park’s own Laura Amy Schlitz.

The Hired Girl is an exploration of feminism and housework; religion and literature; love and loyalty; cats, hats, and bunions. It has earned starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, and School Library Journal.

Publishers Weekly noted: “Schlitz has crafted another exquisite literary gem, one told entirely via Joan’s vivid, humorous, and emotionally resonant diaries…. Schlitz frankly discusses class, religion, women’s education, art, literature, and romance.”

Press and reviews of The Hired Girl are HERE.