Poet and children’s book author Norma Minturn Stilwell was born in Albany, N.Y., and was raised in Rutherford, N.J. After attending St. Elizabeth’s College in Convent Station, N.J., and the Universitaria per Stranieri in Forence, Italy, she was an administrative assistant for Tamblyn and Brown, which raised funds to build a facility Seton Hall University’s School of Medicine and Dentistry. She also performed administrative work for the Central Intelligence Agency in Washington, D.C.
In 2011, she published “A Thought for Thanksgiving” and “Making Beautiful Music,” the first two in her series of Let’s Get Along books urging young readers to look beyond surface differences and embrace tolerance.
A mother of four children and grandmother of 10, Stilwell has been a member and prize-winning contributor to the anthologies of the New Jersey State Poetry Society, Inc., and a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, the Sarasota Opera Guild and Cape May Patriots, DAR. She and her husband James Bryan Stilwell relocated from Ocean City, N.J., to Sarasota, Fla., in 2001 where she continues to write poetry, create low-fire ceramics and enjoy gardening and the arts.
Learning how to get along and to appreciate those who may be different from us are valuable lessons of childhood. If you are wondering how to teach tolerance or looking for a children’s book on diversity, Making Beautiful Music and the seasonal A Thought for Thanksgiving provide an entertaining way to get the message across.
Poet and author Norma Minturn Stilwell believes both books remind us that great things can result when we appreciate the talents and abilities of others and that tolerance is what has made us a great nation.