Children's Writers
Arrathoon, Leigh Adelaide
November 30, 1942 -
Place of Birth: Manhattan, NY
Place of Principle Residence: Rochester, MI
Biography:
Leigh Adelaide Arrathoon was born to Henry Elkin and Peggy Walles in Manhattan, New York. For one year she attended Centre d’art dramatique, a New York French Acting School, with a full tuition scholarship in 1957 to represent Forest Hills High School. She received her AB in French and Spanish from Hunter College Park Avenue in 1963 and enrolled in summer school at the Universities of Geneva, Lausanne, and Lille at Boulogne sur Mer, between 1961 and 1963 to study French language, literature, and culture. In 1966 and 1968 Arrathoon got her MA in French literature and Spanish literature respectively, and her MA and PhD in French Medieval Language and Literature in 1975. She was one of the first four women admitted to graduate school at Stanford. Arrathoon has worked as a teacher at many schools as a French, Spanish, or medieval literature teacher at schools including Princeton University and Oakland University. Many of her stories and articles have appeared in publications like The South Hill Gazette, Verses Magazine, and The Dana Literary Society. Ball State University forum nominated her article “The Two Saras of Chaucer’s Merchant’s Tale” for the Pushcart prize. She has published a seven-book series about Michigan and short historical fictions for children, as well as historical novels for young adults. One of her historical novels, Summer of the Bear, won the Michigan State History Award.
Selected Works:
- The Lady of Bergi (1984)
- Mirror of Love (1991)
- Great Places: Jody’s Michigan Adventures (1999)
- The Summer of the Bear (2002)
Awards:
- 2001 Appeared on Michigan Magazine
- 2007 Michigan State History Award
- n/a nominated for Pushcart Prize
Critical Reception:
Arrathoon’s work on medieval history, literature, and poetics has received academic attention, as demonstrated in her nomination for the Pushcart Prize for her article “The Two Saras of Chaucer’s Merchant’s Tale.” In addition, her historically researched children’s novels have been well received, including a Michigan State History Award in 2007.
Relevance of Place to Author’s Work:
Arrathoon has published several books of children’s stories about Michigan, including a seven-book series entitled Jody’s Michigan Adventures, focusing on different locations like Detroit, Greenfield Village, and Mackinac Island. Her work won the Michigan State History Award in 2007.
Baker, Ray Stannard
April 17, 1870 - July 12, 1946
Place of Birth: Lansing, MI
Biography:
Ray Stannard Baker was born to Joseph Stannard and Alice Baker in 1870. He achieved a B.S. at Michigan State University in 1889 and briefly studied Law and Literature at the University of Michigan. From 1892 to 1897 Baker was a reporter for the Chicago Daily Record, and then moved on to McClure Syndicate as manager in 1898. It was at this publication that Baker earned the reputation of being a prominent “muckraker” along with Ida Tarbell and Lincoln Steffens. During this time Baker also published children stories for Youth’s Companion along with a nine volume series of stories about rural living in America under the pen name of David Grayson. Troubled with the hard-hitting journalism in McClure, Baker left the magazine in 1906 to start his own publication called American Magazine. In 1908 Baker became the first well-known journalist to examine America’s social divide by writing the book Following the Color Line, which enjoyed great success. After supporting President Theodore Roosevelt, Baker experimented with socialism before supporting the candidacy of Woodrow Wilson in 1912. The two men struck a close friendship and in 1918 Wilson sent Baker to Europe to study the war situation. When it came to peace negotiations, Wilson appointed Baker as his press secretary at Versailles. Baker published fifteen volumes about Wilson and internationalism, including an eight-volume biography on Wilson, the last two of which won the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1940. Baker died of heard attack in 1946 in Amherst, Massachusetts.
Selected Works:
- Seen in Germany (1901)
- Following the Color Line; an Account of Negro Citizenship in the American Democracy (1908)
- Adventures in Friendship (1910)
- Woodrow Wilson and World Settlement (1922)
- American Chronicle (1945)
Awards:
- Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography
- Contemporary American Literature
- Pulitzer Prize for Biography, for Woodrow Wilson: Life and Letters
Critical Reception:
Starting with his years as a muckraker, Baker became well known for his journalism and stories. After working closely with Woodrow Wilson, Baker was placed in a position of trust and took over important responsibilities such as being press secretary at Versailles and editing the President’s papers. Wilson once said, “I would rather have your [Baker’s] interpretation than that of anyone else I know.”
Relevance of Place to Author’s Work:
Baker received his education in Michigan,
Bloss, Joan
Dec. 9, 1928 –
Place of Birth: New York, NY
Place of Principle Residence: Ann Arbor, MI
Biography:
Joan Blos, a New York City native, was born on December 9, 1928 to Max (a psychiatrist) and Charlotte (teacher) Winsor, both of whom influenced her professional pursuits. Joan’s love for libraries was inherited from her parents, who took her on frequent trips to it and read out loud to her. Joan attended Vassar College during 1946 – 1949 and got her B.A. in physiology, a decision she contributed to her father. After graduation she worked as a college classroom assistant in a special nursery for disturbed by very young children. It was there she discovered her love for teaching children. Blos went for a year to New York City College to get a master’s degree in psychology, but did not complete the program. Instead she became a doctoral candidate at Yale and also worked as a research assistant in Yale’s Child Study Center where she was employed in the pediatric play program where she interacted with child patients. Blos later attributed this experience to sparking an interest in children’s literature. At Yale she also met her husband, Peter Blos. Three years later she decided academic psychology wasn’t a good fit and moved back to New York City with her husband. Blos reregistered for an M.A. at the City College of New York City and also worked part-time at the Bank Street College of Education, an organization focused on a progressive view of education, in the Publications division. Here she began writing, reviewing, and teaching. In 1970 Blos left New York City for Michigan. She published her first book, “It’s Spring,” She Said and has since released a plethora of other books as well as a stage play.
Selected Works:
- In the City (1964)
- Just Think (1971)
- A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl’s Journal, 1830 – 1838 (1979)
- Martin’s Hats (1984)
- The Grandpa Days (1989)
- On Very Best Valentine’s Day (1989)
- Brooklyn Doesn’t Rhyme (1994)
- Hungry Little Boy (1995)
- Hello Shoes! (1999)
Awards:
- 1980 Newbery Medal for A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl’s Journal
- American Book Award (Children’s Fiction) for A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl’s Journal
- 1987 Globe-Horn Book Honor Award for Old Henry
- Booklist Editor’s choice for Old Henry
- Honorary Doctorate from Bank Street College of Education in NYC
Critical Reception:
Blos’ novel A Gather of Days: A New England Girl’s Journal, 1830-32 received rave reviews. Kirkus Reviews wrote the book was “carefully researched and convincingly delivered.” The St. Louis Post-Dispatch commented that the “careful tuning of psychological nuances to historical elements…gives the story its powerful immediacy. A Gathering of Days not only gives the reader a close look at the early 1800s, it offers… a deeply moving human experience.” The Toronto Globe and Mail described Blos’ book Brothers of the Heart: A Story of the Old Northwest, 1837 – 1838 as “more powerful and more stirring than its award-winning predecessor.” St. James Guide to Children’s Writers wrote Blos’ “language, with its rhythms and lilt of earlier times, is remarkably spare, not replete with full-blown descriptions, yet giving the reader a strong sense of place and characterization. Blos has accomplished the fine feat of balancing history with universal human experience, uniting the book’s past with the reader’s present. Brothers of the Heart was rewritten as a stage play in 1999.
Relevance of Place to Author’s Work:
Living in Ann Arbor has allowed Blos to do local research for her books, most particularly Brothers of the Heart, where she drew inspiration for her setting, as well as spending time in the Ypsilanti Historical Society and the Bentley Library. She is actively involved in the community publishing plays for theatrical companies such as Wild Swan Theater. Today plenty of her time is reading in the Library of the University of Michigan and writing books.
Gauch, Patricia
January 3, 1934 –
Place of Birth: Detroit, MI
Place of Principle Residence: Hyde Park, NY
Biography:
Patricia Lee Gauch was born to Muriel and William Melbourne (an investor) on January 3, 1954 in Detroit, MI. As a child she ran barefoot on the beaches of Michigan during the summer, racing turtles and swimming, and sipping milkshakes. She attributes this experience to the sense of freedom and spontaneity captured in her children’s books. Gauch received her B.A. in English Literature in 1956 at Miami University and subsequently worked as a reporter for the Louisville Courier Journal and a freelanced for the Detroit Free Press. She married Ronald Gauch, a scientist and administrator, and had three children, Sarah, Christine, and John. After the birth of her first child, Gauch turned from journalism to children’s literature. She took a writing class from a well-known children’s author, Jean Fritz, who Gauch attributes the sale of her first book. In 1970 Gauch received her M.A.T. and PhD at Manhattanville College and worked at Coward-McCann as a Publisher and Writer. Between 1972 and 1983 Gauch was a teacher for Gill – St. Berhards School and then went on to teach children’s literature at Drew University and Rutgers University. In 1985 she became the edititor-in-chief for Philomel Books and served as chairman of Rutgers University Advisory Council on Children’s Literature from 1984 t0 1986. Gauch has published almost forty picture books and novels, several of which have been inspired by her children. Her free-form verse book Thunder at Gettysburg is still used as a classroom resource thirty years after its publication date. In the 1970s Gauch was one of the first authors to present strong female characters in her books, which are now considered a requirement. Gauch currently lives with her husband in Hyde Park, New York.
Selected Works:
- Aaron and the Green Mountain Boys (2004)
- Tanya and the Red Shoes (2002)
- Presenting Tanya The Ugly Duckling (1999)
- Tanya and Emily in a Dance for Two, Philomel (1994)
- Dance Tanya (1989)
- Thunder at Gettysburg (1975)
Awards:
- 1976 Mark Twain Award Nominee
- 1978 Boston Globe – Horn book award
Critical Reception:
For Christina Katrina and the Box:
“You won’t believe how much fun a cardboard box can be! A gleeful little story of imaginative play enlivened by the delightful illustrations.”
—School Library Journal
“The idea of imaginative play is convincingly and elaborately pursued. The illustrations augment the story with visual detail.”
—The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
Relevance of Place to Author’s Work:
As a child Gauch spent her summers on the beaches of Michigan. She later incorporated her memories of the spontaneity and freedom of these summers in her children’s books.
Hovey, Kate A.
February 27, 1950 –
Place of Birth: Flint, MI
Biography:
Kate A. Hovey was born to William Gifford and Eddie Hovey in Flint, MI on February 27, 1950. She first became inspired to write from her many visits to the collection of marble statues of J. Paul Getty Museum’s Greco-Roman antiquities collection in Malibu. She wrote poems dedicated to ancient Greek mythology, but remained too shy to show anyone until seventh grade, when an English teacher encouraged her in her writing. Hovey dismissed any dreams of being an author in college, instead getting a B.A. in journalism. Her first job was working as a features writer for The Sanford Herald in North Carolina, and then worked for The Fayetteville Observer as a court reporter, columnist, and features writer. Hovey married Grand O. Gullickson and moved to California with her family before taking up poetry again. She attended UCLA and studied under Myra Cohn Livingston, a noted poet and anthologist. Her poem Arachne Speaks was made into a picture book in 2001 and her children’s collection was published in 2004. Currently Kate works as a writer, designer, and metalsmith, and has made masks for university theater productions.
Selected Works:
- Arachne Speaks (2001)
- Voices of the Trojan War (2004)
- Ancient Voices (2004)
Awards:
- 2002 Marion Vannett Ridgway Honor Book Award for Arachne Speaks
- 2002 Mellen Press Poetry Prize Honorable Mention for The Book of Sarai
Critical Reception:
Arachne Speaks was praised by authors Lee Bennett Hopkins and Geraldine McCaughrean, and in addition achieved a starred review in Publisher’s Weekly. The book also was given a Marion Vannett Ridgeway Memorial Honor Book Award in 2002. Her book, Ancient Voices, was described by Pulitzer prize-winning poet as “an excellent storytelling medium – clear, pictorial, and full of action.” Voices of the Trojan War was named a Notable Book by the National Council of Teachers of English in 2005. Kirkus Reviews commented “Hovey offers a fresh and elegant take on the old stories for young readers.” Publishers Weekly stated that Hovey’s style “is cohesive, powerful, and striking.”
Relevance of Place to Author’s Work:
Kate attended Michigan State University where she worked for the school’s student-run daily newspaper. She continued her work in journalism before returning to studying poetry at UCLA.