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Ann Whitford Paul

www.annwhitfordpaul.net

Ann Whitford Paul grew up in the Midwest, the oldest of five children. Although she loved reading and would often stay up late into the night with a book, she did not think about writing until she was thirty-five and the mother of three children. "It was rarely quiet in our crowded house," Paul said, until after supper when the children were bathed and ready for bed. Then she would sit with each child in a rocker, or under the covers in bed. Together they would read -- a special time that inspired a new goal. Paul wanted to write books that parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles could share with the little ones in their lives.

Years of study (and a fourth child) followed her heart-driven decision. Finally the hard work paid off when Putnam published her first book, Owl At Night,in 1985. Simple but compelling, it is the story of two children and their family who settle down to sleep just as an owl begins its nightly routine. A review in School Library Journal,called the story "a cozy catalog of nighttime activity that would make a good addition to the bedtime story collection."

In her second book, published by HarperCollins in 1991 and aimed at children between eight and twelve, Paul used her love of quilting to create a novel alphabet book. Eight Hands Round: A Patchwork Alphabet describes twenty-six quilt patterns, from A for Anvil to Z for Zigzag, and the historical customs and events that inspired each design. Kirkus Reviews hailed it as an innovative way "to introduce patchwork's economic, social, and artistic role."

Quilting is the basis of another book, the seasons sewn: A Year In Patchwork, published in 1996. It uses quilting patterns to reveal life in the century after the Declaration of Independence was signed. Thus, the pattern known as Rising Star yields a brief description of African-American quilts and what the North Star symbolized for slaves yearning for freedom; the pattern called Jack-in-the-Pulpit gives insight into the role of herbal medicines in early America; the text alongside the Bear's Paw pattern describes an encounter with a grizzly bear; and Cake Stand represents a harvest table laden with celebratory foods.

In 1992 Scholastic published a book Paul wrote for younger children, Shadows Are About. The lyrical, rhyming text follows a brother and sister as they explore the mystery of shadows. A Booklist review said that "shadows, which are about light and movement and new perspectives, take on a life of their own in this beautifully crafted picture book."

Another book for children of the same age is a jolly contrast. Hello Toes! Hello Feet! is the jaunty tale of a little girl's daily adventures told from the perspective of her dancing, marching, skipping, sliding, hopping feet. Paul's child narrator changes her shoes as often as she changes her activities. Constant are her companions: a rambunctious little dog and a stuffed toy rabbit, which add to the visual humor of the rhyming text. School Library Journal called the result "sheer fun, pure and simple."

Humor and wit reappear Paul's second ABC book, Everything To Spend The Night From A To Z, published in 1999. A little girl carries a duffel bag full of treasures to her grandfather's house to spend the night. The rollicking rhyming text tells how she playfully stalls off bedtime. Publisher's Weekly said the young heroine displays "inexhaustible exuberance", matched only by the author and illustrator.

Now that her youngest child has graduated from high school, Paul revels in her own office space and the many hours each day that she can spend writing. She admits the first draft is "painful," but thrills to the challenge of revision. She compares it to a puzzle -- instead of pieces, she keeps looking until she can place the right words in the right place and create a vibrant tightly-knit picture. Paul believes in the well-known advice to "write about what you know." She warns prospective writers against trying to "jump on the bandwagon or write to the demands of the market." Good books, ones that tug at a reader's emotions, must come from the author's own strong emotions. Neither is a grand roller coaster of exciting adventures necessary to become a writer. "I've never rescued a drowning person, or climbed the Himalaya Mountains, or driven a race car, but I still find plenty of material in my own quiet world that I want to share with others," she said. "In fact, I'll probably need ten lifetimes to get everything I want to say down on paper."