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{{Short description|American author}}
{{Infobox Writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox Writer/doc]] -->
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name = Jim Kjelgaard
| name = Jim Kjelgaard
| birthdate = {{birth date|1910|12|6|mf=y}}
| birth_date = {{birth date|1910|12|6|mf=y}}
| birthplace = [[New York City]], [[New York]], [[United States]]
| birth_place = [[Albany, New York|New York]], [[New York (state)|New York]], [[United States]]
| deathdate = {{death date and age|1959|7|12|1910|12|6|mf=y}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|1959|7|12|1910|12|6|mf=y}}
| deathplace = [[Milwaukee, Wisconsin]], [[United States]]
| death_place = Milwaukee, Wisconsin, [[United States]]{{citation needed|date=March 2020}}
| occupation = author
| occupation = Author
| nationality = [[United States|American]]
| period = [[1938 in literature|1938]] to [[1959 in literature|1959]]
| period = [[1938 in literature|1938]] to [[1959 in literature|1959]]
| genre = juvenile fiction ([[novel]]s), [[children's literature]], [[young adult literature]]
| genre = juvenile fiction ([[novel]]s), [[children's literature]], [[young adult literature]]
| subject = animals, outdoors
| subject = Animals, outdoors
| notableworks = Big Red
| notableworks = ''Big Red''
}}
}}


'''James Arthur Kjelgaard''' (December 6, 1910–July 12, 1959)<ref>{{Citation
'''James Arthur Kjelgaard''' (December 6, 1910 – July 12, 1959)<ref>{{Citation
⚫
| contribution = KJELGAARD, James Arthur 1910–1959
| last =
| first =
⚫
| contribution = KJELGAARD, James Arthur 1910-1959
| year = 1992
| year = 1992
| title = Contemporary Authors
| title = Contemporary Authors
| editor-last = Trosky
| editor-last = Trosky
| editor-first = Susan M & Donna Olendorf
| editor-first = Susan M & Donna Olendorf
| volume = v. 137
| volume = 137
| pages = pp 250–252
| pages = 250–252
| place=
| publisher = Gale Research
| publisher = Gale Research
| id = }}, as reproduced on [http://home.sprintmail.com/~charterbus/biograph.htm Kjelgaard tribute site]. Note that some sources give December 10 as birth date, e.g. [http://home.sprintmail.com/~charterbus/bigwoods.htm this biographical sketch].</ref> was an [[United States|American]] author of [[young adult literature]].
}}, as reproduced on [http://home.sprintmail.com/~charterbus/biograph.htm Kjelgaard tribute site]. Note that some sources give December 10 as birth date, e.g. [http://home.sprintmail.com/~charterbus/bigwoods.htm this biographical sketch] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303180429/http://home.sprintmail.com/~charterbus/bigwoods.htm |date=2016-03-03 }}.</ref> was an American author of [[young adult literature]].


==Early life and education==
⚫
Born in [[New York City]], [[New York]], Jim Kjelgaard is the author of more than forty novels, the most famous of which is 1945's ''Big Red''. It sold 225,000 copies by 1956 <ref>{{Citation
Kjelgaard was born in [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]] on December 6, 1910. Jim's father, Carroll W. Kjelgaard, was a physician, happily married with five sons and one daughter. Kjelgaard was the fourth oldest. He and his siblings lived on a seven hundred and fifty acre farm in the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania during his childhood. It was the outdoors which provided a playground for all the children. Dave Drakula, writing in ''Jim Kjelgaard – From the Bigwoods to Hollywood'', recounted a time when Kjelgaard and his brother Henry were outside playing when Kjelgaard spotted a bear. Kjelgaard and Henry climbed up the apple tree to escape the bear. Once the bear was gone Kjelgaard got down from the tree screaming and yelling as he ran into the house. In the meantime, Henry was too small to get out of the tree himself and was stuck there. The bear came back again and stared Henry down with Kjelgaard laughing in the distance. This is where Kjelgaard's first love of bears comes from and later appeared in his books such as ''Buckskin Brigade'' (1947).

As a child, Kjelgaard liked to read. Although his family was often low on money, Kjelgaard's parents always tried to support Kjelgaard and provide as many books for him as they could. The family's farming venture failed and Jim and his family moved to Galeton, Pennsylvania. It was at that point that Kjelgaard began to show interest in writing. Kjelgaard made a desk out of a box so that he could start writing poems and stories on a typewriter. In addition, Kjelgaard was becoming an avid hunter, trapper, and fisherman, and his love for dogs was unlimited. Unfortunately, during this time Kjelgaard began to have symptoms of epilepsy. He was brought to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, where his problem was diagnosed as a tumor but he did not have to have surgery at the time. Kjelgaard was still able to continue on with his life and adventures and show his love for the outdoors.

==Career==
⚫
Kjelgaard wrote more than 40 novels, the most famous of which is 1945's ''Big Red''. It sold 225,000 copies by 1956<ref>{{Citation
| last = Doyle
| last = Doyle
| first = Brian
| first = Brian
| contribution = A Small Note About Big Red
| contribution = A Small Note About Big Red
| year = Spring 1999
| date = Spring 1999
| title = American Scholar
| title = American Scholar
| editor-last =
| volume = 68
| editor-first =
| issue = 2
| volume = 68.2
| pages = 134
| pages = 134
| place=
| publisher = Academic OneFile
| publisher = Academic OneFile
| id = }} </ref> and was made into a 1962 [[Walt Disney Pictures| Walt Disney film]] with the same title, ''[[Big Red (film)|Big Red]]''. His books were primarily about [[dogs]] and wild animals, often with animal [[protagonists]] and told from the animal's [[Perspective (cognitive)|point of view]].
}}</ref> and was made into a 1962 [[Walt Disney Pictures|Walt Disney]] [[Big Red (film)|film of the same name]].


His books were primarily about [[dog]]s and wild animals, often with animal [[protagonists]] and told from the animal's [[Perspective (cognitive)|point of view]]. Kjelgaard also wrote short fiction for several magazines, including ''[[The Saturday Evening Post]]'',
⚫
Jim Kjelgaard committed suicide in 1959, after suffering for several years from chronic pain and depression.<ref>{{Citation
''[[Argosy (magazine)|Argosy]]'', and ''[[Adventure (magazine)|Adventure]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.philsp.com/homeville/fmi/s1478.htm#BOT |title=FictionMags Index Entry for Jim Kjelgaard |access-date=2010-12-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101208021644/http://www.philsp.com/homeville/fmi/s1478.htm#BOT |archive-date=2010-12-08 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Personal life and final years==
⚫
After suffering for several years from chronic pain and depression,<ref>{{Cite journal
| last = Drakula
| last = Drakula
| first = Dave
| first = Dave
| contribution = Jim Kjelgaard - From the Bigwoods to Hollywood
| title = Jim Kjelgaard – From the Bigwoods to Hollywood
| year = July/September 1990
| date = July–September 1990
| title = Mountain Journal
| journal= Mountain Journal
| editor-last =
| volume = 8
| number= 4}} reprinted on Gary Charter's [http://home.sprintmail.com/~charterbus/bigwoods.htm Kjelgaard tribute site] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303180429/http://home.sprintmail.com/~charterbus/bigwoods.htm |date=2016-03-03 }}</ref> in 1959 Kjelgaard committed suicide at the age of 48.<ref>{{Citation | title = Jim Kjelgaard, A Daughter's Memoir}} reprinted on Gary Charter's [http://home.sprintmail.com/~charterbus/bigwoods.htm Kjelgaard tribute site]{{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714155958/http://home.sprintmail.com/~charterbus/memoir.html}}</ref>
| editor-first =
| volume = Vol. 8, No. 4
| pages =
| place=
| publisher =
| id = }} reprinted on [http://home.sprintmail.com/~charterbus/bigwoods.htm Kjelgaard tribute site]</ref>


==List of works==
== List of works ==
* ''Forest Patrol'' (1941)
* ''Forest Patrol'' (1941)
* ''Rebel Siege'' (1943)
* ''Rebel Siege'' (1943)
* ''Big Red'' (1945)
* ''Big Red'' (1945)
* ''[[wikisource:Weird Tales (Canadian, 2nd series)/1946/January/The Fangs of Tsan-Lo|The Fangs of Tsan-Lo]]'' (1945)
* ''Buckskin Brigade'' (1947)
* ''Buckskin Brigade'' (1947)
* ''Snow Dog'' (1948)
* ''Snow Dog'' (1948)
Line 66: Line 67:
* ''Chip the Dam Builder'' (1950)
* ''Chip the Dam Builder'' (1950)
* ''Irish Red, Son of Big Red'' (1951)
* ''Irish Red, Son of Big Red'' (1951)
* ''Fire-hunter'' (1951)
* ''Fire-Hunter'' (1951)
* ''The Explorations of Pere Marquette'' (1951)
* ''The Explorations of Pere Marquette'' (1951)
* ''Trailing Trouble'' (1952)
* ''Trailing Trouble'' (1952)
Line 77: Line 78:
* ''The Lost Wagon'' (1955)
* ''The Lost Wagon'' (1955)
* ''Desert Dog'' (1956)
* ''Desert Dog'' (1956)
* ''Trading Jeff and his Dog'' (1956)
* ''Trading Jeff and His Dog'' (1956)
* ''Wildlife Cameraman'' (1957)
* ''Wildlife Cameraman'' (1957)
* ''Cochise, Chief of Warriors (1957)
* ''Cochise, Chief of Warriors (1957) - unpublished? Listed in some of his other books.
* ''Double Challenge'' (1957)
* ''Double Challenge'' (1957)
* ''We Were There at the Oklahoma Land Run'' (1957)
* ''We Were There at the Oklahoma Land Run'' (1957)
Line 85: Line 86:
* ''Swamp Cat'' (1957)
* ''Swamp Cat'' (1957)
* ''Rescue Dog of the High Pass'' (1958)
* ''Rescue Dog of the High Pass'' (1958)
* ''The Land is Bright'' (1958)
* ''The Land Is Bright'' (1958)
* ''The Black Fawn'' (1958)
* ''The Black Fawn'' (1958)
* ''The Story of Geronimo'' (1958)
* ''The Story of Geronimo'' (1958)
* ''Hi Jolly'' (1959)
* ''Hi Jolly'' (1959)
* ''Stormy'' (1959)
* ''Stormy'' (1959)
* ''Ulysses & his Woodland Zoo'' (1960)
* ''Ulysses & His Woodland Zoo'' (1960)
* ''Boomerang Hunter'' (1960)
* ''Boomerang Hunter'' (1960)
* ''The Duck-footed Hound'' (1960)
* ''The Duck-Footed Hound'' (1960)
* ''Tigre'' (1961)
* ''Tigre'' (1961)
* ''Hidden Trail'' (1962)
* ''Hidden Trail'' (1962)
Line 98: Line 99:
* ''Two Dogs & a Horse'' (1964)
* ''Two Dogs & a Horse'' (1964)
* ''Furious Moose of the Wilderness'' (1965)
* ''Furious Moose of the Wilderness'' (1965)
* ''Dave and his Dog, Mulligan'' (1966)
* ''Dave and His Dog, Mulligan'' (1966)
* ''Coyote Song'' (1969)
* ''Coyote Song'' (1969)


==References==
== References ==
{{reflist}}
{{Reflist}}


==External links==
== External links ==
{{wikisource author}}
⚫
* [http://home.sprintmail.com/~charterbus/kjelgaard.htm Website on Jim Kjelgaard]
{{Portal |Children's literature}}
⚫
* [http://www.hstreasures.com/authors/kjelgaard.html HS Treasures bio of Kjelgaard]
⚫
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140714155953/http://home.sprintmail.com/~charterbus/kjelgaard.htm Website on Jim Kjelgaard] owned and operated by Gary Charter.
⚫
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061023101939/http://www.hstreasures.com/authors/kjelgaard.html HS Treasures bio of Kjelgaard]
* {{Gutenberg author | id=37042| name=Jim Kjelgaard}}
* {{FadedPage|id=Kjelgaard, Jim (James Arthur)|name=Jim (James Arthur) Kjelgaard|author=yes}}
* {{Internet Archive author |search=( Kjelgaard AND (Jim OR James) )}}
* {{Librivox author |id=1987}}
* {{Find a Grave|13725796}}
* {{LCAuth|n50047222|Jim Kjelgaard|56|}}


{{Authority control}}
⚫
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kjelgaard}}

⚫
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kjelgaard, Jim}}
[[Category:1910 births]]
[[Category:1910 births]]
[[Category:1959 suicides]]
[[Category:1959 deaths]]
[[Category:1959 deaths]]
[[Category:American people of Swedish descent]]
[[Category:American male novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:American children's writers]]
[[Category:American children's writers]]
[[Category:People from New York City]]
[[Category:American writers of young adult literature]]
[[Category:Writers from New York City]]

[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
{{US-child-writer-stub}}
[[Category:Novelists from New York (state)]]

Latest revision as of 18:53, 22 June 2024

Jim Kjelgaard
Born(1910-12-06)December 6, 1910
New York, New York, United States
DiedJuly 12, 1959(1959-07-12) (aged 48)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States[citation needed]
OccupationAuthor
Period1938 to 1959
Genrejuvenile fiction (novels), children's literature, young adult literature
SubjectAnimals, outdoors
Notable worksBig Red

James Arthur Kjelgaard (December 6, 1910 – July 12, 1959)[1] was an American author of young adult literature.

Early life and education

[edit]

Kjelgaard was born in New York City, New York on December 6, 1910. Jim's father, Carroll W. Kjelgaard, was a physician, happily married with five sons and one daughter. Kjelgaard was the fourth oldest. He and his siblings lived on a seven hundred and fifty acre farm in the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania during his childhood. It was the outdoors which provided a playground for all the children. Dave Drakula, writing in Jim Kjelgaard – From the Bigwoods to Hollywood, recounted a time when Kjelgaard and his brother Henry were outside playing when Kjelgaard spotted a bear. Kjelgaard and Henry climbed up the apple tree to escape the bear. Once the bear was gone Kjelgaard got down from the tree screaming and yelling as he ran into the house. In the meantime, Henry was too small to get out of the tree himself and was stuck there. The bear came back again and stared Henry down with Kjelgaard laughing in the distance. This is where Kjelgaard's first love of bears comes from and later appeared in his books such as Buckskin Brigade (1947).

As a child, Kjelgaard liked to read. Although his family was often low on money, Kjelgaard's parents always tried to support Kjelgaard and provide as many books for him as they could. The family's farming venture failed and Jim and his family moved to Galeton, Pennsylvania. It was at that point that Kjelgaard began to show interest in writing. Kjelgaard made a desk out of a box so that he could start writing poems and stories on a typewriter. In addition, Kjelgaard was becoming an avid hunter, trapper, and fisherman, and his love for dogs was unlimited. Unfortunately, during this time Kjelgaard began to have symptoms of epilepsy. He was brought to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, where his problem was diagnosed as a tumor but he did not have to have surgery at the time. Kjelgaard was still able to continue on with his life and adventures and show his love for the outdoors.

Career

[edit]

Kjelgaard wrote more than 40 novels, the most famous of which is 1945's Big Red. It sold 225,000 copies by 1956[2] and was made into a 1962 Walt Disney film of the same name.

His books were primarily about dogs and wild animals, often with animal protagonists and told from the animal's point of view. Kjelgaard also wrote short fiction for several magazines, including The Saturday Evening Post, Argosy, and Adventure.[3]

Personal life and final years

[edit]

After suffering for several years from chronic pain and depression,[4] in 1959 Kjelgaard committed suicide at the age of 48.[5]

List of works

[edit]
  • Forest Patrol (1941)
  • Rebel Siege (1943)
  • Big Red (1945)
  • The Fangs of Tsan-Lo (1945)
  • Buckskin Brigade (1947)
  • Snow Dog (1948)
  • Kalak of the Ice (1949)
  • A Nose for Trouble (1949)
  • Wild Trek (1950)
  • Chip the Dam Builder (1950)
  • Irish Red, Son of Big Red (1951)
  • Fire-Hunter (1951)
  • The Explorations of Pere Marquette (1951)
  • Trailing Trouble (1952)
  • Outlaw Red, Son of Big Red (1953)
  • The Spell of the White Sturgeon (1953)
  • The Coming of the Mormons (1953)
  • Haunt Fox (1954)
  • Cracker Barrel Trouble Shooter (1954)
  • Lion Hound (1955)
  • The Lost Wagon (1955)
  • Desert Dog (1956)
  • Trading Jeff and His Dog (1956)
  • Wildlife Cameraman (1957)
  • Cochise, Chief of Warriors (1957) - unpublished? Listed in some of his other books.
  • Double Challenge (1957)
  • We Were There at the Oklahoma Land Run (1957)
  • Wolf Brother (1957)
  • Swamp Cat (1957)
  • Rescue Dog of the High Pass (1958)
  • The Land Is Bright (1958)
  • The Black Fawn (1958)
  • The Story of Geronimo (1958)
  • Hi Jolly (1959)
  • Stormy (1959)
  • Ulysses & His Woodland Zoo (1960)
  • Boomerang Hunter (1960)
  • The Duck-Footed Hound (1960)
  • Tigre (1961)
  • Hidden Trail (1962)
  • Fawn in the Forest & other Wild Animal Stories (1962)
  • Two Dogs & a Horse (1964)
  • Furious Moose of the Wilderness (1965)
  • Dave and His Dog, Mulligan (1966)
  • Coyote Song (1969)

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Trosky, Susan M & Donna Olendorf, ed. (1992), "KJELGAARD, James Arthur 1910–1959", Contemporary Authors, vol. 137, Gale Research, pp. 250–252, as reproduced on Kjelgaard tribute site. Note that some sources give December 10 as birth date, e.g. this biographical sketch Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ^ Doyle, Brian (Spring 1999), "A Small Note About Big Red", American Scholar, vol. 68, Academic OneFile, p. 134
  3. ^ "FictionMags Index Entry for Jim Kjelgaard". Archived from the original on 2010-12-08. Retrieved 2010-12-28.
  4. ^ Drakula, Dave (July–September 1990). "Jim Kjelgaard – From the Bigwoods to Hollywood". Mountain Journal. 8 (4). reprinted on Gary Charter's Kjelgaard tribute site Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Jim Kjelgaard, A Daughter's Memoir reprinted on Gary Charter's Kjelgaard tribute siteArchived 2014-07-14 at the Wayback Machine
[edit]
Wikisource has original works by or about:
Jim Kjelgaard
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Jim_Kjelgaard&oldid=1230444319"