Deborah Hopkinson (1942 - )

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

Deborah Hopkinson was born on 13 Sept. 1942, grew up in Lowell, Mass. and vacationed yearly in Rangeley, Maine, as a child. She received a BA in English from the Univ. of Hawaii and she lives now in Walla Walla, Washington, with her husband and two kids, where she's director of development and administration at Whitman College. Hopkinson has a website with more info on her and her books, and links for teachers and kids.

Hopkinson's books include:

• Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt (1994)
• Birdie's Lighthouse (1997), historical fiction that takes place in a coastal Maine fishing village and on a Maine island)
• A Band of Angels (1999)
• Bluebird Summer (2001), illustrated by Bethanne Andersen; the renewal of nature echoes the cycle of life after two children lose their grandmother
• Fannie in the Kitchen: The Whole Story From Soup to Nuts of How Fannie Farmer Invented Recipes with Precise Measurements (2001), illustrated by Nancy Carpenter
• Prairie Skies: Pioneer Summer (2003; Ready-for-Chapters series), illustrated by Patrick Faricy. First book in the series; 'after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, eight-year-old Charlie's abolitionist parents decide to move their three children from Massachusetts to Kansas.'
• Prairie Skies: Cabin in the Snow (2002; Ready-for-Chapters series), illustrated by Patrick Faricy; 2nd book in the series; Charlie Keller and his family forge a new life on the Kansas Prairie in the 1850s.
• Under the Quilt of Night (2002), illustrated by James E. Ransome
• Maria's Comet (2003), illustrated by Deborah Lanino. Poetic picture book that imagines the childhood of Maria Mitchell, America's first woman astronomer.
• Our Kansas Home (2003; Ready-for-Chapters series), illustrated by Patrick Faricy. 3rd book in series. Charlie's family want their territory of Kansas to enter the Union as a free state, but the pro-slavery people are powerful.
• Shutting Out the Sky: Life in the Tenements of New York, 1880-1924 (2003), which weaves 'together the personal stories of five young people with the social conditions that caused them to emigrate, what they left behind, what they hoped for, what they found, and how they changed America.'
• Girl Wonder: A Baseball Story in Nine Innings (2003/2006), illustrated by Terry Widener; 'a fictional picture book based on the life of Alta Weiss, who at the age of 17 was the first female to pitch baseball for a semipro all-male team, the Vermilion Independents'
• The Klondike Kid: Sailing for Gold (2003; Ready-for-Chapters series), illustrated by Bill Farnsworth. First book in series. Orphaned Davey, living in Seattle near the turn of the 20th century, stows away on a ship heading toward the Klondike.
• The Long Trail (2004; Ready-For-Chapters series), illustrated by Bill Farnsworth; takes up where Sailing for Gold left off. (Second book in series)
• The Klondike Kid: Adventure in Gold Town (2004; Ready-For-Chapters), illustrated by Bill Farnsworth. 3rd in series.
• Apples to Oregon: Being the (Slightly) True Narrative of How a Brave Pioneer Father Brought Apples, Peaches, Pears, Plums, Grapes, and Cherries (and Children) Across the Plains (2004), illustrated by Nancy Carpenter; a tall tale for K-4th grade.
• A Packet of Seeds (2004), illustrated by Bethanne Andersen, the story of pioneer family's experiences
• Hear My Sorrow: The Diary of Angela Denoto, A Shirtwaist Worker (2004), in the popular Dear America series
• John Adams Speaks for Freedom (2005; Ready-to-Read Book)
• Billy and the Rebel: Based on a True Civil War Story (2005; Ready-to-Read Book), illustrated by Brian Floca
• Who Was Charles Darwin? (2005), with Nancy Harrison
• Saving Strawberry Farm (2005), illustrated by Rachel Isadora
• From Slave to Soldier: Based on a True Civil War Story (2005; Ready to Read; illus. Brian Floca)
• Susan B. Anthony : Fighter for Women's Rights (2005; Ready to Read; illus. Amy Bates)
• Sky Boys: How They Built the Empire State Building (2006), illustrated by James Ransome
• Up Before Daybreak: Cotton And People In America (2006)
• Into the Firestorm: A Novel of San Francisco, 1906 (2006)

Deborah Hopkinson and YOU (2007), ninth in The Author and YOU series, provides background on Hopkinson and bibliographies and classroom curriculum for her books.


Last Update: 08/03/2007

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