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Elaine Marie Alphin

Web site: www.elainemariealphin.com

“There’s something irresistible about a clean sheet of paper or a blank computer screen,” said Elaine Marie Alphin. “It implores me to fill it with adventures and with hope, and ever since I first learned to write I’ve tried to do so. I started making up stories when I was very small, even before I could write them down. I always dreamed of writing my stories and seeing my books on library shelves one day, where everyone could read them.”

“I write fiction and nonfiction books for young readers, nonfiction books for adult readers, and all kinds of magazine stories, articles, puzzles and activities for youngsters and adults. And, I’ve got new stories and book ideas in the works all the time. My novels deal with serious realities that young people face and overcome by the power of their imagination. There is often danger, and my heroes must find the courage and conviction to put themselves on the line for what they believe.”

Alphin grew up in San Francisco, moved to New York when she was nine and later moved to Houston where she attended high school. At Rice University, in Texas, Alphin worked for a theater group, wrote for the newspaper and wrote four books, one each year. “Only one of those first books was any good," she said, "but I was writing, and I felt alive. I did think that one book had promise, however, and I revised it many, many times as I was learning my craft until it was finally good enough to be published – twenty-five years later! - as Simon Says."

“As much as writing is a joy,” Alphin explains, “it is also a business and I am as professional as possible in my work schedule. My days are filled with writing and researching. In addition to writing my novels, I research a good deal of nonfiction for biography and science articles for magazines. I usually work in my office at least eight hours a day, and sometimes longer.”

Alphin is winner of the 2001 Edgar Award for Counterfeit Son, the 2002 Society of Midland Authors Children’s Fiction Award for Ghost Soldier, and the Virginia State Reading Association Award for The Ghost Cadet. Besides writing, her other interests include puzzles, dinosaurs, theater, needlework, collecting teddy bears and other stuffed animals, and raising hamsters.

Elaine Marie Alphin is the author of more than 20 books for young readers, including:

The Ghost Cadet, Henry Holt, 1991
A Bear for Miguel, HarperCollins, 1996
Vacuum Cleaners, Carolrhoda, 1997
Creating Characters Kids Will Love, Writers Digest Books, 2000
Counterfeit Son, Harcourt, 2000
Ghost Soldier, Henry Holt, 2001, Winner of the 2004 Indiana Young Hoosier Book Award
Simon Says, Harcourt, 2002
Germ Hunter: A Story About Louis Pasteur, Carolrhoda, 2003
Dinosaur Hunter, HarperCollins, 2003, Winner of a 2004 Oppenheim Gold Portfolio Award
Picture Perfect, Carolrhoda, 2003, A 2003 VOYA Top Shelf Fiction for Middle School Readers Choice
I Have Not Yet Begun To Fight: A Story About John Paul Jones, Carolrhoda, 2004
The Perfect Shot, Carolrhoda, 2005