Children's Writers

Noble, Trinka

Oct. 8, 1994 –
Place of Birth: Albion, MI

Place of Principle Residence: Bernardsville, New Jersey

Biography:
Trinka Noble grew up on a farm with her parents, Carl and Heva, and her six brothers and sisters.  The numerous animals wandering about her family’s farm planted an appreciation in Noble, a love that later came out in her books, particularly The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash. According to Noble, she first wanted to become an artist at age two by smelling crayons.  Childhood memories like these appear in several of Noble’s books.  In second grade, her teacher posted her drawing on the bulletin board, an act Noble vividly remembers today.  The author memorialized her teacher in The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash, by naming a character after her.  Noble also praised her father in her book Apple Tree Christmas for buying her a drawing board for Christmas during her childhood.  In 1967 Noble graduated from Michigan State University with a Bachelor’s degree of the fine arts and subsequently attended two schools in New York City: Patterson’s School of Design and the New School of Social Research.  One of her crowning moments was studying with Caldecott medalist Uri Schulevitz in a Greenwich Village workshop.  Noble has worked as an art teacher in elementary schools in Michigan, Virginia, and Rhode Island.  She currently lives in a house built in 1780 located in the Jockey Hollow area of Bernardsvill, New Jersey and dedicates herself to writing and illustrating picture books.

Selected Works:

           
• The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash (1980)
           
• Hansey’s Mermaid (1983)
           
• Meanwhile Back at the Ranch (1987)
           
• Jimmy’s Boa and the Big Splash Birthday Bash (1989)

Awards

           
• American Booksellter Pick of the List
           
• Booklist Children’s Editors’ Choice for Jimmy’s Boa and the Big Splash Birthday Bash
           
• American Book Award
           
• Reading Rainbow Featured Selection
           
• American Bookseller Pick of the Lists
           
• North Dakota Flicker-Tail Children’s Book Award
           
• Arizona Young Reader’s Award for Meanwhile Back at the Ranch
           
• Child Study Children’s Book Committee Books of the Year
           
• Junior Literary Guild Selection for Apple Tree Christmas
           
• IRA-CBC Children’s Choice for Jimmy’s Boa Bounces Back

Critical Reception:

Noble’s quirky stories and illustrations have received much recognition.  The Day Jimmy’s Boa ate the Wash and Jimmy’s Boa and The Big Splash Birthday Bash have been translated into six different languages.  In 2002 Noble was names Outstanding Woman in Arts and Letters in the state of New Jersey for her dedication to writing for children.

Relevance of Place to Writing:
Noble’s childhood on a Michigan farm clearly shines through her writing.  Developing a boa as a principle character in her book traces back to the number of animals traipsing around her farm.  The encouragement she received from childhood figures like her second-grade teachers and her father fueled her desire to become a nationally recognized writer and illustrator.

Paul, Richard A.

March 27, 1957 -

Place of Birth:  Detroit, MI

Place of Principle Residence:  Macomb, MI

Biography:
  Richard A. Paul was born to Marion and Frank Paul in Detroit, MI.  At age eleven he learned ventriloquism, which sparked a lifetime career as an author, vantriloquest, and speaker.  Paul earned his Associates in marketing at Macomb College in 1978, and a BA in communiciation in 1981 at Oakland University.  He is the CEO of Duck Sense, a creative company offering motivational programs.  Paul has authored several books, including The Magic Telescope, that incorporate humor along with life lessons, and has spoken to over 600,000 businesses and schools.  Currently Paul lives in Macomb, MI with his wife, Leesa, and his three children, Nicholas, Colin, and Jasmine.

Selected Works:

     
• The Magic Telescope (1996)
     
• Red Riding Hood Races the Big Bad Wolf (1999)

Awards:

     
• Speaker Ladder Award (International Platform Association)
• Best Speaker Awards (Toastmaster International)
• Best children’s Book Category (Mid-American Publishers Association)
• Recipient of annual advance skill training from the National Speakers Association and NSA Michigan
• Award winning Author “Honorable Mention” Midwest Publishers Association

Critical Reception:

For Red Riding Hood Races the Big Bad Wolf:


“Paul dispenses with the multi-level symbolism of the folk tale in favor of a single themed self-esteem/morality lesson, namely that a child in a wheelchair can accomplish whatever she sets out to do if only she believes in herself and gets confident support from her friends and family. While that lesson may appear to be directed at children with special needs, the book also works with able-bodied children. Parents and educators will likely find this book a useful tool in encouraging positive thinking for special needs children and their peers.”
- Fore Word Magazine


“A modern spoof of an old fairy tale, This Red Riding Hood has mobility and speed advantages: she uses a wheelchair.  Red Riding Hood Races the Big Bad Wolf is geared to reading levels 3-7, but it’s funny and hip and few adults would be able to read it to a child without chuckling to themselves.”
- Detroit Feee Press


“A wonderful book that delights it’s readers with a more humorous approach to the ever increasing knowledge that success is developed even at a young age and stems from a person’s ability to utilize that which has been made available to her along with the desire to reach far beyond those set of boundries.”
- Ablity Magazine

Relevance of Place to Author’s Work:
Paul was born and educated in Michigan.  He currently lives in Macomb, MI where he runs a successful company, Duck Sense.

 

 

Perkins, Lynne Rae

July 31, 1956 -

Place of Birth:  Pittsburgh, PA

Place of Principle Residence:  Cedar, MI

Biography:
Lynne Rae Perkins was born to Janet and Raymond Calvert in Pittsburgh, PA.  She earned her B.F.A. in Drawing and Painting at Pennsylvania State University in 1978 and her M.F.A. in Printmaking at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1981.  Upon graduating from the latter, Perkins moved to Boston where she worked as a graphic designer.  There she met and married her husband, Bill, and moved to the northern woods of Michigan.  The couple lived in a house constructed by Bill (a furniture maker) that had no electricity, telephone service, or running water, requiring woodstoves, a propane-powered refrigerator, and walking to a nearby park for buckets of water.  Perkins got her foot in the publishing world when she attended the 1993 Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Conference and got her illustrations looked at by the art director of GreenWillow Books.  The director liked what she saw, and in 1995 Perkins’ first book was published, Home Lovely.  Since then Perkins has written and illustrated many other books, including the Newberry Award-winning Criss Cross.  She now lives in Cedar, MI in a house designed by herself and built by her husband, with her two children: Lucy and Frank.

Selected Works:

     
• Home Lovely (1995)
     
• Clouds for Dinner (1997)
     
• All Alone in the Universe (1999)
     
• The Broken Cat (2002)

Awards:

     
• Home Lovely Horn Book Honor Book
 
• Clouds: riverbank Review’s books of distinction

Critical Reception:
For Criss Cross:

“Writing in a wry, omniscient third-person narrative voice, Perkins deftly captures the tentativeness and incompleteness of adolescence.  In 38 brief chapters, this poetic, postmodern novel experiments with a variety of styles: haiku, song lyrics, question-and-answer dialogue and split-screen scenarios. With seeming yet deliberate randomness, Perkins writes an orderly, innovative, and risk-taking book in which nothing happens and everything happens.”
- Newberry Award Committee Chair Barbara Barstow

For The Broken Cat:

“Perkins is a genius at capturing the odd details that reveal so much about individuals and families, and how they interact.”
      - Riverbank Review

“Lynne Rae Perkins has the gift of surprising — and, once she’s caught you and often delighted you, of shifting your point of view, or showing you something new, or getting you to think about something you hadn’t thought about before, at least in quite that way.” 
- Horn Book Magazine

Relevance of Place to Author’s Work:
Perkins draws her inspiration from living in the northern woods of Michigan.  Her book, Clouds for Dinner, was based on her experience on her and her husband’s first and very rustic house. 

 

 

Purmell, Ann

November 15, 1953 -

Place of Birth:  Ann Arbor, MI

Place of Principle Residence:  Jackson, MI

Biography:
  Ann Purmell was born to Burton and Helen McGarry at Ann Arbor, MI.  Her love for writing appeared in her early childhood, although it was only until sixth grade that she received the encouragement she needed to gain confidence in it.  Purmell married her husband, Bruce (a dentist), in 1974 and earned her BS in nursing at Eastern Michigan University in 1979.  Purmell worked as a nurse for several hospitals and had two children, Michael and Hilary.  At age 42, she decided to go back to school at Spring Arbor College to get her Elementary Education degree.  Right before her student teaching, however, she fell ill and was diagnosed with lung disease.  During her many days in bed, Purmell began penning children’s books.  She sent out her first manuscript, Apple Cider Making Days, to several publishers before The Millbrook Press picked it up.  Since then she has written several other children’s books and has visited many classrooms to talk to children about their writing.  Purmell lives in Jackson, MI with her husband and works as a full-time writer.

Selected Works:

   
• Apple Cider Making Days (2002)
   
• Giraffes (2003)

Critical Reception:

“Jackson-area children’s author Ann Purmell gushes with enthusiasm, explaining her surprising success in the children’s literature world. She radiates happiness, talking about her family and her work. Her passion for life, and for writing, is unmistakable.”
- KiC Feature Article

For Apple Cider Making Days:

“This book is a “must–read” before a class or family makes a trip to an apple orchard or cider press. The soft illustrations provide just the touch before cousins visit Grandpa’s apple farm where they pick apples that are destined for eating or pressing cider. The apples called “eating apples” are shown in bags, sorted by variety like McIntosh and Cortland. The other apples are chopped and squeezed, then made into cider. Grandpa’s store, The Apple Barn, also homemade jam, squash, pie and donuts. The total effect is mothering. One of the best features is that the farmer looks like most farmers today and bears no resemblance to “Old MacDonald.”
        - Mary Ann Paulin, Director, Superiorland Preview Center, Marquette

Relevance of Place to Author’s Work:
Purmell has spent her whole life in Michigan where she developed her love for writing.  Her book, Apple Cider Making Days, reflects the iconic apple orchards of Michigan.

 

 

Whelan, Gloria

1923—

Place of Birth: Detroit, MI

Place of Principal Residence: Detroit, MI

Biography:
Gloria Whelan was born in 1923 in Detroit, Michigan. At age nine, she had rheumatic heart disease and was forced to spend a whole year on bed rest, which was considered to be the only cure at the time.  Her escape from the monotony came in the form of reading, and, since it was during the Great Depression and books were scarce, she often read the same books multiple times. Whelan began making up stories before she could write and dictated them to her baby sitter. She began writing poetry in elementary school, and was the editor of her high school’s paper. Whelan graduated from the University of Michigan and didn’t become a full-time writer until she and her husband moved to the woods of northern Michigan, where they spent thirty years.  Whelan enjoys writing about her home state, as well as places overseas, and particularly thrives on the research involved with her writing.  She and her husband now live in Detroit, MI and have two children, Joseph and Jennifer.

Selected Works:

       
• Angel on the Square
       
• The Impossible Journey
       
• Chu Ju’s House
       
• Mackinac Bridge: The Five Mile Poem
       
• Listening for Lion

Awards:

       
• 1998 Michigan Author Award
       
• 2000 National Book Award
       
• ALA Notable Children’s Book
       
• LA Best Books for Young Adults
       
• Great Lakes Booksellers Award
       
• Society of Midland Authors Juvenile Fiction Award
       
• Friends of American Writers Award
       
• Best Books of the Year Bank Street College
       
• Distinguished Achievement Award from the Educational Press Association of America
       
• Mark Twain Award
       
• Young Hoosier Master List
       
• National Outdoor Book Award

Critical Reception:
Gloria Whelan is the best-selling author of countless novels, short stories, and poetry. Her work encompasses the genres of children’s literature, young adult literature, contemporary fiction, historical fiction, and short stories and poems for adults. Children and adults alike praise her works.

For Summer of the War:

“Beautifully measured writing captures the smell of lake breezes, the feel of sand between the toes and emotional ache of growing up when change is not a choice. An exception portrayal of how war becomes personal.” -Kirkus Reviews

For Listening for Lions:

“Gentle, nostalgic, and fueled with old-fashioned girl power, this involving orphan story will please fans of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic The Secret Garden (1912) and Eva Ibbotson’s The Star of Kazan.” - Booklist

For St. Petersburg novels:

“The book’s uncomplicated language and sensitive treatment of political issues make it an excellent, vibrant introduction to the cause and effects of Tsar Nikolai’s fall.” - Publisher’s Weekly

Relevance of Place to Work:
Many of Gloria Whelan’s adult novels include wilderness setting and images and metaphors of nature. She is drawn by the mystery of nature and the characters it affects.  Several of her books take place in Whelan’s favorite Michigan locations such as Mackinac Island.

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