Author Study

With author studies, students learn to compare and contrast themes, analyze text and illustrations, and make connections between an author's life and his/her work and between the author's work and the reader's own life and work.

http://www.readingrockets.org/books/authorstudy/reasons

http://www.storylineonline.net/

Reading aloud to children has been shown to improve reading, writing and communication skills, logical thinking and concentration, and general academic aptitude, as well as inspire a lifelong love of reading.

Angelique Monet has been writing poetry since she was eight years old. It is her most favorite way of communicating her thoughts and emotions. When she sits down to write, poetry flows through her fingers. It’s never forced or without reason. She writes heartwarming tales filled with meaningful adventures, strong characters, and undeniable humor. She is a passionate writer and writes real issues.

David Shannon was born in Washington, D.C, in 1959. He grew up in Spokane, WA. David liked to draw as soon as he could hold a crayon. He went to Hutton Elementary school where his teachers soon realized that if they let David draw murals it would keep him from disrupting class and their classroom would have some pretty good art on the walls, too. David eventually graduated from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena where he majored in Illustration.

Patricia Polacco was bullied and called dumb by classmates and peers because of her dyslexia. Despite her troubles in school, she was very close to her family, especially her grandparents. These life experiences are seen throughout her stories, which usually focus on two themes: diversity and inter-generational relationships. Students will relate to her truer-than-life characters who overcome their challenges and gain support from loving family and friends.

Kevin Henkes creates such lovable characters and relatable themes filled with emotions that students quickly fall in love with his books. Favorite characters such as Sheila Rae, Chrysanthemum and Wendall come to life with the details in the illustrations. In addition to his famous mouse characters, he has also written numerous other picture books as well as novels.

He was also the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The BFG, and a treasury of original, evergreen, and beloved children’s books. He remains for many the world’s No. 1 storyteller.

Born in Llandaff, Wales, on 13th September 1916 to Norwegian parents, Harald Dahl and Sofie Magdalene Hesselberg, Dahl was named after Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian who had been the first man to reach the South Pole just four years earlier. A heroic start in life. But his early years were blighted by the tragic deaths of his older sister, Astri, and his father.

Tomie dePaola (pronounced Tommy da-POW-la) is best known for his books for children.

He's been published for over 40 years and has written and/or illustrated nearly 250 books, including Strega Nona, 26 Fairmount Avenue, The Art Lesson, and Christmas Remembered. Over 15 million copies of his books have sold worldwide.

E. B. White, the author of twenty books of prose and poetry, was awarded the 1970 Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal for his children’s books Stuart Little and Charlotte’s Web. This award is now given every three years “to an author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have, over a period of years, make a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.

Faith Ringgold, painter, writer, speaker, mixed media sculptor and performance artist lives and works in Englewood, New Jersey. Ms Ringgold is professor emeritus at the University of California, San Diego where she taught art from 1987 until 2002. Professor Ringgold is the recipient of more than 75 awards including 22 Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Degrees.

Pam Muñoz Ryan is the 2018 U.S. nominee for the international Hans Christian Andersen Award, and the author of ECHO, the recipient of the Kirkus Prize and the Newbery Honor. She has written over forty books, including the novels ESPERANZA RISING, BECOMING NAOMI LEÓN, RIDING FREEDOM, PAINT THE WIND, THE DREAMER, and ECHO.

A literacy advocate excited about sharing what she calls "bookjoy," Pat founded Children's Day, Book Day, El día de los niños, El día de los libros often known as Día. The year-long commitment promotes creatively linking all children and families to books and establishing annual April Children’s Day, Book Day A former teacher, university administrator, museum director, and consultant, Pat is a popular speaker who promotes creativity, inclusivity and bookjoy.

Clive Staples Lewis (1898–1963) was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably one of the most influential writers of his day. He was a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Oxford University until 1954, when he was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement.

With over forty million books in print, Jan Brett is one of the nation's foremost author illustrators of children's books. Jan lives in a seacoast town in Massachusetts, close to where she grew up. During the summer her family moves to a home in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts.

As a child, Jan Brett decided to be an illustrator and spent many hours reading and drawing.

Mr. Snicket rarely appears in public, but when he does, it is best to avoid him. Fortunately, space at his events is limited.

Lemony Snicket was born before you were, and is likely to die before you as well. His family has roots in a part of the country which is now underwater, and his childhood was spent in the relative splendor of the Snicket Villa which has since become a factory, a fortress and a pharmacy and is now, alas, someone else's villa. To the untrained eye, Mr. Snicket's hometown would not appear to be filled with secrets. Untrained eyes have been wrong before.

At age seven, Patricia discovered reading. “So began my lifelong love affair with the printed word,” she said. “Reading is like breathing—both are essential to life.”

Patricia spent her childhood in both Nashville and Kirkwood, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis. She graduated Tennessee State University in 1964 at the age of 19 with a bachelor’s degree in English Literature. It’s there that she met the love of her life, Fredrick L. McKissack. He, too, graduated from TSU with a degree in civil engineering. The two married in December 1964, and moved to St. Louis in early 1965.

“Jerdine Nolen was born in Crystal Springs, Mississippi, and raised in

Chicago, Illinois, along with five sisters and two brothers.“Writing is fun work. It takes patience to get the right story.

Once you have the story idea, it is important to revise/revisit the

work to make it the best that it could be. It is like sculpting or wiring

the pieces together in a way so the words on the page have enough life –

they could stand up and walk around all on their own. That is why my motto is,

Hold fast to your dreams as you would your balloons!

Born in Ireland, Eve Bunting grew up in a tradition steeped in the art of storytelling and the magic of words. In 1958 Eve Bunting moved to California with her husband and three children. It was there, several years later, that she enrolled in Writing for Publication class at her local junior college. Filled with ideas and a strong desire to write, she was, nevertheless, uncertain of what to expect. "All doubts vanished when I had my first published story and then my first published book," she recalls.

Mary Pope Osborne is an ardent advocate and supporter of children’s literacy, and the award-winning author of more than 100 books for children and young adults, including novels, retellings of mythology and folklore, picture books, biographies, and mysteries.

Barbara Park was best-known as the creator and author of the New York Times bestselling Junie B. Jones series, the stories of an outrageously funny kindergartner who has kept kids (and their grownups) laughing—and reading—for over two decades. Published by Random House Books for Young Readers, the series has sold over 60 million copies in North America alone, has been translated into multiple languages and is a beloved and time-honored staple in elementary school classrooms around the world.

I was born in East Meadow, New York on March 20, 1954 and lived there until third grade. My dad worked on the 78th floor of the Empire State Building, and maybe that somehow inspired Wayside School, who knows?

Allen Say was born in Yokohama, Japan, in 1937. He dreamed of becoming a cartoonist from the age of six, and, at age twelve, apprenticed himself to his favorite cartoonist, Noro Shinpei. For the next four years, Say learned to draw and paint under the direction of Noro, who has remained Say's mentor. Say illustrated his first children's book -- published in 1972 -- in a photo studio between shooting assignments.

Jeanette Winter is a renowned picture book creator whose acclaimed works include Nanuk the Ice Bear; Malala, A Brave Girl from Pakistan/Iqbal, A Brave Boy from Pakistan: Two Stories of Bravery; Henri’s Scissors; Biblioburro: A True Story from Colombia; The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq; and Nasreen’s Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan.

These book-lists for children celebrate a wide range of cultures, languages, and experiences. They are perfect for read-alouds and bedtime stories, as well as for author studies! You can also get to know some of the featured authors in our Meet the Authors section.

http://www.colorincolorado.org/books-authors/books-kids