Tell Me a Mitzi

Lore Segal is a novelist, translator, short story writer, and author of children's books. Born in Vienna, she was raised in England after her parents sent her away during Hitler's rise to power. Segal has written five novels, including Other Peoples' Houses and the Pulitzer Prize finalist Shakespeare's Kitchen, and eight books for children. She lives in New York City.

Harriet Pincus (1938-2001) was born in the Bronx and her first illustrated book was The Wedding Procession of the Rag Doll and Broom Handle and Who Was in It (1967) by Carl Sandburg. She illustrated other books and wrote one of her own, Minna and Pippin (1972).

Review Quotes:
"A must!" -- School Library Journal

"Thanks to Lore Segal's antic words, and Harriet Pincus's antic pictures, children will find Tell Me a Mitzi a hilarious picnic." -- Publishers Weekly

"Author and illustrator have caught the essence of childhood in this captivating picture book. The three stories mix fantasy with reality and are told with naturalness and warmth. The illustrations, so filled with details and surprises they invite repeated scrutiny, have verity and vitality, poignancy and endearing humor." -- Booklist, starred review

"A remarkable joint tour de force." -- The Washington Post Book World

"This is possibly one of the funniest books in print." -- The Saturday Review

"The fantasy is as real as tomorrow's ice cream cone, the three Mitzi stories more than bull's-eyes. . . . A triumph." -- Kirkus

"[The first book I fell in love with] was a children's book called Tell Me a Mitzi by Lore Segal and illustrated by Harriet Pincus. My mother used to read this to me every night before I went to sleep. It's a story about a little girl who takes her baby brother out on adventures around the city while their parents are sleeping. I loved it because it was about the pleasures of radical independence and the discovery of the world. And because I so deeply loved my little brother. To this day, my mother still calls me 'Mitzi.'" --Ottessa Moshfegh

" Tell Me a Mitzi hums with the Sendakian weirdness of its era ... all 'family stories, ' those quirky episodes from childhood that children love to hear told about themselves ... the entire amusing escapade unimaginable today." --Meghan Cox Gurdon, The Wall Street Journal

"The stories are based in realism but then freely depart from it... and this structure calls to my mind my Jewish-immigrant grandpa who made up tales to tell his nine grandkids... It's now new again -- ready to charm the next generation." -- Pamela Rafalow Grossman, Kveller


Publisher Marketing:
Three hilarious, quirky tales about a young city girl's adventures big and small.

Mitzi lives with her mother and father and her baby brother in the big city where every day is an adventure. Or at least Mitzi makes it one, though sometimes the adventure is more than a little surprising. One day it's time to pay an impromptu visit to her grandparents. And what will happen when the president comes to town? Who knows what Mitzi will get up to next?

In Tell Me a Mitzi Lore Segal's droll dialogue and off-kilter storytelling is beautifully matched by Harriet Pincus's gritty and colorful illustrations. These are stories that capture childhood in all its puzzlement, resourcefulness, and unsentimental wonder.