From the Birthday Book

Try our Authors and Illustrators area for information about CLN members. There's an alphabetical list as well.

Our alphabetically-arranged Birthday Bios page features authors and illustrators, current and past, with short biographies.

We thank our author and illustrator biography researchers, volunteers who write these informative articles about authors and illustrators, past and present: Lois Thompson Bartholomew, Terri DeGezelle, Juli Friedberg, Heidi Grosch, Steve Mudd, Vicki Palmquist, Leslie Greaves Radloff, Karen Ritz, Mary Rude, Julie G. Schuster, Christina Semsch, Martha Valainis

Born on May 10th, Linda Glaser first started writing children's books in 1978. She was living in California at the time and took several classes that inspired her to write beginning readers, nonfiction, and her first novel, Bridge to America, which was nominated for the Minnesota Book Award in Children's Fiction.

Some of Linda's other books are Our Home, a book about this world on which we all live, The Borrowed Hannukah Latkes, and a series of books about the seasons. Dazzling Dragonflies is her most recent book, published by Lerner Books.

Linda Glaser lives in Duluth, Minnesota with her husband and daughters. She teaches writing classes.

Learn more about Linda Glaser ...

—Vicki Palmquist

Christopher Paul Curtis was born on May 10^th, in Flint, Michigan. He spent the first thirteen years after high school working on an automobile assembly plant. It was during that time that he began work on the early drafts of The Watsons Go To Birmingham – 1963. Upon publication, it was to become a Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Honor. In St. Paul, the book has been chosen as this year’s citywide selection for readers young and old, and has become a focal point of a district literacy effort. At Battle Creek Elementary School, Jane Batcheller’s sixth grade students have been reading the book and enhancing the experience by making scrapbooks that chronicle the fictional family’s journey from Flint, Michigan to Birmingham, Alabama. With each stop on the map, the children learn the state’s geography and history, especially the events that happened during the 1960’s. His second novel, Bud, Not Buddy, was the winner of both the Newbery and Coretta Scott King. Curtis currently lives in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

—Karen Ritz

Writing comes easily for author Caroline Cooney, born on May 10th, and she is diligent in her craft, writing three books a year and often working on more than one at the same time.

"Learning to write is exactly like learning a musical instrument or a sport. You have to practice every day if you want to become good at it. There are no shortcuts."

She usually writes from 7:15 am to early afternoon, a practice she started when her children were in school. "I followed the bus schedule!" She never knows whether the book she is writing will become a series. "Sometimes when I've written a book it is finished in my heart as well...others remain in my heart and I feel very intimate with the characters."

Some of her titles include The Ransom of Mercy Carter (2000), her first published historical novel, and The Face on the Milk Carton.

—Heidi Grosch

Eleanor Estes, who celebrated her birthday on May 9th, was the sort of author who makes her stories live in both the imaginations and the hearts of her readers. Her well-loved Moffat Tales began with her first book, The Moffats, published in 1941. Based on her own childhood, the town of Cranbury was her own home town of West Haven, Connecticut.

Estes was born Eleanor Ruth Rosenfield in 1906. She began her career as a librarian, but turned to writing when a case of tuberculosis kept her in bed for a protracted length of time. She married Rice Estes, who was also a librarian.

A three time Newbery Honor winner for The Middle Moffat (1942), Rufus M (1943), and The Hundred Dresses (1944), Estes received the award in 1953 for Ginger Pye. Ms. Estes died in 1988.

—Heidi Grosch

James Matthew Barrie was born in Kirriemuir Scotland, on May 9, 1860. James received his Master of Arts degree at Edinburgh University. After several years of working as a journalist he moved to London and it is there where Barrie wrote the play Peter Pan.

James's first marriage ended in divorce after several years. Barrie befriended Arthur and Sylvia Davies and ultimately adopted their five boys. James told his boys tales of a boy who would not grow up. These stories became the basis for Peter Pan and the lost boys of Never Land.

"You see, Wendy, when the first baby laughed for the first time, its laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies." Peter Pan is one of those characters who became more famous than his creator. Barrie died on June 19, 1937.

—Terri DeGezelle

The first edition of Watership Down was published in 1972. Written by Richard Adams, whose birthday we celebrate on May 9th, the story is about a flock of rabbits whose burrows are destroyed by urban expansion, so they search for a new place to settle. It combines fantasy, adventure, and ecology. Adams did not pay attention to length of the novel, age range, level of difficulty, or acceptable subject matter.

When Watership Down was published in America, it became an adult worldwide bestseller. Adams traveled to college campuses to speak about environmental concerns and animal rights issues. In 1985, Penguin Books said that it was second on their list of all time bestsellers. Its sales of 5 million made it second only to Animal Farm, but ahead of The Canterbury Tales and The Odyssey. Watership Down has been used by BBC radio, made into an animated film, and a children's television series.

Shardik, The Plague of Dogs, The Girl in a Swing, Maia, and Traveller are also best-selling books written by Richard Adams.

Richard Adams celebrates his 87th birthday in 2007. He lives in Hampshire, England near the actual setting for the rabbits of Watership Down.

—Martha Valainis

Jessica Anderson celebrates her birthday on May 8th. She was a teacher for several years, but is pursuing a writing career. Her first novel, Trudy, won the Milkweed Prize for Children's Literature in 2005. Jessica lives in Texas, where she writes short stories and is working on another novel.

—Vicki Palmquist

Nonny Hogrogian, born on May 7th, began painting as a very young child in a household filled with art and artists. She graduated from Hunter College in New York with a degree in Art and studied woodcutting at the New School for Social Research. She worked in the advertising department at William Morrow and in the design departments at Holt, Rinehart and Charles Scribner’s Sons.

In 1966, her book Always Room for One More was awarded the Caldecott Medal. In 1972, she received the same medal for One Fine Day. In 1974, The Contest was given a Caldecott Honor.

On occasion, she illustrates her husband’s books: David Kherdian is a poet and novelist. They live in Oregon.

—Vicki Palmquist

Born on May 6th, Ted Lewin grew up in upstate New York. He attended Pratt Institute of Art in New York, financing his studies by wrestling in the summer. He continued to wrestle part-time for the next fifteen years, which he recounts in his book, I Was a Teen-Age Professional Wrestler.

His book, Peppe the Lamplighter, received a Caldecott Honor in 1994. He and his wife, Betsy Lewin, travel all over the world doing research for their books, to places such as the Amazon River, the Sahara Desert, Botswana, Egypt, Lapland, and India.

Check out his books Lost City: the Discovery of Machu Picchu, The Always Prayer Shawl, Market!, Gorilla Walk (with Betsy Lewin), and The Disappearing Island.

—Vicki Palmquist

Kristine O’Connell George celebrates her birthday on May 6th. She was born in Denver, Colorado, but she grew up in many states throughout the South and West. She’s an avid sportswoman, loves the outdoors, and has many artistic hobbies.

Ms. George studied poetry with Myra Cohn Livingston for seven years. Today she is teaching others to write poetry for children, sometimes at the UCLA Writer’s Program. Her first book was The Great Frog Race, published in 1997. She is the author of Little Dog Poems, published in 1999, which delighted readers. Her books Swimming Upstream: Middle School Poems and Hummingbird Nest: a Journal of Poems are adding depth and wit to the canon of children’s poetry. Ms. George's latest book, Fold Me a Poem, is causing a stir among teachers and librarians, who find this picture and poetry book about origami to be inspiring classrooms full of students of many ages. (Hint: it'll work really well in creative writing and art classes in secondary schools, too.)

She has won many awards, including the IRA’s Lee Bennett Hopkins Promising Poet Award, the Myra Cohn Livingston Poetry Award, and the Golden Kite Award from SCBWI. Today she lives with her family in the Santa Monica mountains in southern California.

—Vicki Palmquist

Born on May 6th in St. Paul, Minnesota, Judy Delton lived in her hometown for most of her life. She wrote more than one hundred books for children, including the popular Pee Wee Scouts series, which sold more than seven million copies. Her writing was often compared to Beverly Cleary or Carolyn Haywood for her ability to capture the essence of childhood.

For many years, Ms. Delton taught writing classes in her home. Today, those writers are having their own books published and remember her forthright instruction and critique with appreciation. Many writers have benefited from her handbook, The 29 Most Common Writing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them.

Ms. Delton had four children and decided to quit teaching so she could stay home and raise them. Writing prolifically was her way of supporting her family. She died very suddenly of a blood infection in December of 2001. Her legions of friends and all those she taught were greatly saddened.

—Vicki Palmquist

Maryann N. Weidt celebrates her birthday on May 5th. She was born in Hutchinson, Minnesota and grew up on a farm where her Daddy Played Music for the Cows. Maryann remembers her childhood with fondness. She enjoyed going to school in Silver Lake. Maryann holds a Masters of Library Science from the College of St. Catherine in Saint Paul. She is the proud mother of three adult children, two boys and one girl. Maryann and her husband live in Minnesota, in the Twin Cities, where Maryann is the head librarian at a suburban library. In addition to her picture book, which was just reissued in paperback, she is also the author of many fine biographies, including the Dr. Seuss biography, Oh, the Places He Went (illustrated by Kerry Maguire), Voice of Freedom, a Story about Frederick Douglass, and Mr. Blue Jeans: a Story About Levi Strauss.

Happy birthday, Maryann! You will always be our Queen of the May.