Behind the Pages: Memoirs and Biographies of Famous Children's Book Authors

by Amy Gary

Captures the exceptional life, imagination, and passion of the children's book author by drawing from unpublished manuscripts, songs, personal letters, and diaries discovered in Margaret Wise Brown's sister's attic.

Margaret Wise Brown's works include Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny, and The Little Island.

by Nikki Grimes

The author recounts her traumatic childhood, with a mother suffering from mental illness, unfortunate experiences in a series of foster homes, and her discovery of her love of writing, which eventually helped her overcome the hazards of her life.

Nikki Grimes's works include Bronx Masquerade, Meet Danitra Brown, and Words With Wings.

by Michael Sims

Traces the influence of E.B White's early twentieth-century childhood on a farm and his love for animals on his career, offering insight into the creation of Charlotte's Web as it evolved from an early draft.

E.B. White's works include Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, and The Trumpet of the Swan.

by Leslie Brody

Harriet the Spy, first published in 1964, has mesmerized generations of readers and launched a million diarists. Its beloved antiheroine, Harriet, is erratic, unsentimental, and endearing—very much like the woman who created her, Louise Fitzhugh. This is her story.

Louise Fitzhugh's works include Harriet the Spy, The Long Secret, and Nobody's Family is Going to Change.

by Sandra Cisneros

A book of essays spanning the author's career and reflecting upon the various homes she's lived in around the world from the Chicago neighborhoods where she grew up to her abode in Mexico, in a region where "my ancestors lived for centuries, these poignant, unforgettable pieces give us not only her most transformative memories but also a revelation of her artistic and intellectual influences.

Sandra Cisneros's works include The House on Mango Street and Hairs/Pelitos.

by Walter Dean Myers

An engaging and powerful autobiographical exploration of growing up as a so-called "bad boy" in Harlem in the 1940s.

Walter Dean Myers's works include Monster, Fallen Angels, and Somewhere in Darkness.

by Jonathan Cott

An extraordinary, path-breaking, and penetrating book on the life and work and creative inspirations of the great children's book genius Maurice Sendak, who since his death in 2012 has only grown in his stature and recognition as a major American artist, period.

Maurice Sendak's works include Where the Wild Things Are, In the Night Kitchen, and Pierre: A Cautionary Tale in Five Chapters and a Prologue.

by Caroline Fraser

A comprehensive historical portrait of Laura Ingalls Wilder draws on unpublished manuscripts, letters, diaries, and official records to fill in the gaps in Wilder's official story, sharing lesser-known details about her pioneer experiences while challenging popular misconceptions about how her books were ghostwritten.

Laura Ingalls Wilder is the author of the Little House on the Prairie series.

by Beverly Cleary

Cleary has created an evergreen body of work based on the humorous tales and heartfelt anxieties of middle graders. But in A Girl from Yamhill, she tells a more personal story of what adolescence was like. In warm but honest detail, she describes life in Oregon during the Great Depression, including her difficulties in learning to read, and offers a slew of anecdotes that were, perhaps, the inspiration for some of her beloved stories.

Beverly Cleary's works include the Ramona series, the Henry Huggins series, and the Ralph S. Mouse series.

by Gary Paulsen

Paulsen shares the story of his turbulent childhood, his escape into military service, and the life-changing impact of an encouraging librarian who handed him his first book.

Gary Paulsen's works include the Hatchet series, Dogsong, and The Winter Room.

by Jacqueline Woodson

A powerful memoir told through vivid poems of what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s. Woodson's eloquent poetry also reflects the joy of finding her voice through writing stories, despite the fact that she struggled with reading as a child. 

Jacqueline Woodson's works include Miracle's Boys, After Tupac and D Foster, and The House You Pass on the Way.

by Lois Lowry

In this updated and refreshed photographic memoir, Lois Lowry offers an intimate look at pivotal moments that affected her life, inspired her writing, and often evolved into her rich and wonderful novels beloved the world over.

Lois Lowry's works include the Anastasia Krupnik series, The Giver, and Number the Stars

by Barbara Elleman

Virginia Lee Burton’s name may bring to mind a steam shovel and a man called Mike Mulligan, a charming little house, and a snowplow named Katy. Yet to speak only of Burton’s achievements as a picture book creator would be to paint only part of the canvas of her life. She was also a dancer, an illustrator for an early Boston newspaper, and a musician, designer, sculptor, and printmaker. 

Virginia Lee Burton's works include Choo Choo, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, and Katy and the Big Snow.

by Mark Dery

Gorey's wickedly funny and deliciously sinister little books have influenced our culture in innumerable ways. Based on newly uncovered correspondence and interviews with personalities as diverse as John Ashbery, Donald Hall, Lemony Snicket, Neil Gaiman, and Anna Sui, Born to Be Posthumous draws back the curtain on the eccentric genius and mysterious life of this offbeat author/illustrator.

Edward Gorey's works include The Gashlycrumb Tinies, The Haunted Tea-Cosy: A Dispirited and Distasteful Diversion for Christmas, and The Doubtful Guest.

by Katherine Paterson

Paterson's tales reveal details about her life from her childhood with missionary parents, to living as a single woman in Japan, to raising four children in suburban Maryland with her minister husband. Filled with personal photos and letters, this funny, heartwarming history from a legendary writer lets fans in on the making of literary classics.

Katherine Paterson's works include Bridge to Terabithia, The Great Gilly Hopkins, and Jacob Have I Loved.

by Jens Andersen

Provides a moving and revealing portrait of the beloved Scandinavian literary icon whose adventures of Pippi Longstocking have influenced generations of young readers all over the world. Chronicles Lindgren’s sometimes turbulent life as an unwed teenage mother, outspoken advocate for the rights of women and children, and celebrated editor and author.

Astrid Lindgren's works include the Pippi Longstocking series, Mio, My Son, and Seacrow Island.

by Donald Sturrock

Storyteller is an intimate portrait of an intensely private man hindered by physical pain and haunted by family tragedy, and a timely reexamination of Dahl’s long and complex literary career.

You may also enjoy Boy: Tales of Childhood, Dahl's humorous autobiographical account of his childhood.

Roald Dah's works include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, and James and the Giant Peach.

by Matthew Dennison

Inspired by the twenty-three "tales," Matthew Dennison takes a selection of quotations from Potter's stories and uses them to explore her multi-faceted life and character: repressed Victorian daughter; thwarted lover; artistic genius; formidable countrywoman. They chart her transformation from a young girl with a love of animals and fairy tales into a bestselling author and canny businesswoman, so deeply unusual for the Victorian era in which she grew up.

Beatrix Potter's works include The Tale of Peter Rabbit, The Tale of Jemimah Puddle-Duck, and The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin.

by Margarita Engle

In this poetic memoir, Margarita Engle, the first Latina woman to receive a Newbery Honor, tells of growing up in two cultures during a time of cold hostility between nations. This almost-war of words shaped a sensitive young girl into an award-winning poet who enriches the world with words of a far more hopeful kind.

See also Soaring Earth: A Companion Memoir to Enchanted Air

Margarita Engle's works include The Surrender Tree, The Firefly Letters, and The Wild Book.

by Jack Gantos

The prizewinning author of over thirty books for young people relates how, as a young adult, he became a drug user and smuggler, was arrested, did time in prison, and eventually got out and went to college, all the while hoping to become a writer.

Jack Gantos's works include the Joey Pigza series, the Rotten Ralph series, and Dead End in Norvelt.

by Sam Irvin

Presents a tribute to the Hollywood entertainer-turned-author that covers such topics as her close friendship with Judy Garland, contributions as a celebrity trainer, and creation of the mischievous six-year-old Plaza mascot, Eloise.

Kay Thompson wrote the Eloise series.