Bruce McMillan (1947 - )

Genre: Children's Literature

Massachusetts-born Maine author Bruce McMillan was raised in Bangor and Kennebunk, graduating from Kennebunk High School, and he now lives in Shapleigh. He's written (and illustrated and photographed) over 40 children's books. His interest in biology (he received a biology degree from the University of Maine) is obvious in his books' topics and contents. McMillan's Night of the Pufflings was named Hungry Mind Review's 1996 Book of Distinction. More biographical information on McMillan is available in Lynn Plourde's A Celebration of Maine Children's Books (1998) and through McMillan's web site.

McMillan's books include:

• The Alphabet Symphony (1977)
• Punography (1978)
• The Remarkable Riderless Runaway Tricycle (1978/1985)
• Finest Kind O'Day: Lobstering in Maine (1977/1984)
• Apples, How They Grow (1979)
• Making Sneakers (1980)
• Punography Too (1980)
• Puniddles (1982/1999; by Bruce and Brett McMillan)
• Ghost Doll (1983)
• Here a Chick, There a Chick (1983)
• Kitten Can -- (1984)
• Becca Backward, Becca Frontward: A Book of Concept Pairs (1986)
• Counting Wildflowers (1986/1999)
• Dry or Wet? (1987)
• Step By Step with Evan (1987)
• Fire Engine Shapes (1988)
• Growing Colors (1988/1994/1999)
• Everything Grows(1989)
• Super, Super, Superwords (1989)
• Time To -- (1989)
• One Sun: A Book of Terse Verse (1990)
• The Baby Zoo (1991)
• Eating Fractions (1991)
• One, Two: One Pair! (1991)
• Play Day: A Book of Terse Verse (1991)
• The Weather Sky (1991/1999)
• Beach Ball -- Left, Right (1992)
• Going on a Whale Watch (1992)
• A Beach for the Birds (1993)
• Mouse Views: What the Class Pet Saw (1993)
• Penguins at Home: Gentoos of Antarctica (1993)
• Sense Suspense: A Guessing Game for the Five Senses (1994)
• Grandfather's Trolley (1995)
• Night of the Pufflings (1995/1999)
• Puffins Climb, Penguins Rhyme (1995/2001)
• Summer Ice: Life Along the Antarctic Peninsula (1995)
• Jelly Beans for Sale (1996)
• Wild Flamingos (1997)
• My Horse of the North (1998)
• Salmon Summer (1998)
• Gletta the Foal (1998)
• Puffins Climb, Penguins Rhyme (2001)
• Days of the Ducklings (2001), the story of an Icelandic girl who is trying to bring back wild eider ducks to an island where they were once plentiful
• Going Fishing (2005)
• The Problem with Chickens (2005; illus. by Gunnella), also set in Iceland, about a community of resourceful women who travel to the city to buy a flock of chickens so that eggs are plentiful in the village. However, the chickens run amok and begin to behave more like ladies than birds.
• How the Ladies Stopped the Wind(2007; illus. Gunnella): Women in an Icelandic village plant trees to block the wind, but then they must find a way to protect the saplings from hungry sheep.

He's also provided photos for Sarah Hale's Mary Had a Little Lamb (1999).

McMillan frequently teaches a course called every semester called "Writing, Illustrating and Publishing Children's Picture Books" at the University of New Hampshire in Durham and Manchester, and he is a sought-after speaker for younger audiences as well.


Last Update: 03/31/2008

(Return to List)