Susan Hand Shetterly (1942 - )

Genre: Non-Fiction, Poetry, Children's Literature, General Fiction

A 1963 Skidmore College graduate, Shetterly is a Blue Hill resident. She was a writer for the now defunct Maine Times and has been a contributor to Aubudon Magazine. Five of her poems have been published in the Beloit Poetry Journal.

Her first book, The New Year's Owl: Encounters With Animals, People & The Land They Share, was published in 1986. In The Dward Wizard of Uxmal (1990), Shetterly retells a Mayan legend. Both were illustrated by her husband, Robert Shetterly, Jr. That same year she also published The Tinker of Salt Cove, illus. by Siri Beckman, which is based on the life of an itinerant tinker whose appearance in Sullivan, Maine, raised questions and concerns among the residents. Native American legends were the source for her next two books, both illustrated by Robert Shetterly, Jr.: a Pacific Northwest creation story was retold in Raven's Light (1991) and a Maine Passamaquoddy legend was the basis for Muwin and the Magic Hare (1993).

In Shelterwood: Discovering the Forest (1999; ill. by Rebecca Haley McCall of Bue Hill), a young girl learns about trees and the beauty of the forest when she visits her grandfather. The National Science Teachers' Association named it one of the Outstanding Children's Science Books 2000. The Ellsworth American published an article on how and why Shetterly wrote Shelterwood.


Last Update: 07/30/2007

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