Kathryn Lasky

Kathryn Lasky

Kathryn Lasky (born June 24, 1944) is an American author whose work includes several Dear America books, the Royal Diaries books, Sugaring Time, The Night Journey, the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series, and the Wolves of the Beyond series.

Biography

Kathryn Lasky is the Newbery Honor author of over one hundred fiction and nonfiction books for children and young adults. Her books range from critically acclaimed nonfiction titles such as Beyond the Burning Time and True North to the wildly popular Guardians of Ga'Hoole fantasy series about owls. She loves owls and researching their behavior and natural history.

Luckily, Lasky lives quite close to Harvard University and the department of Ornithology (Ornithology is a branch of Zoology that concers the study of birds). She consulted with the scientists there frequently. She was quite excited that the Guardians of Ga'Hoole has been optioned by Warner Brothers for a major movie. After graduating college, Lasky wrote for magazines and worked as a teacher. Her first book, I Have Four Names for My Grandfather, was published while she was teaching.

When doing research for a book, Lasky usually begins in the children's room of the public library. "I love doing research," Lasky says. "It's really fun. It's like a treasure hunt." There is no difference whether she is writing about a fictional character, such as in The Journal of Augustus Pelletier: The Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804, for the My Name is America series, or a real character, such as in Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor, England, 1544, for the Royal Diaries series. "My responsibility as a author is to write with authenticity and accuracy and it does not vary whether the character is real or fictional," states Lasky.

Books

Wolves of the Beyond

1. Lone Wolf
2. Shadow Wolf
3. Watch Wolf
4. Frost Wolf
5. Spirit Wolf
6. Star Wolf

Camp Princess

• Born to Rule

• Unicorns? Get Real!

The Royal Diaries

• Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor, England 1544
• Mary, Queen of Scots: Queen Without a Country, France 1553
• Marie Antoinette: Princess of Versailles, Austria-France 1769
• Jahanara: Princess of Princesses, India 1627
• Kazunomiya: Prisoner of Heaven, Japan 1858

Dear America

• Journey to the New World: The Diary Of Remember Patience Whipple, Mayflower, 1620
• Dreams in the Golden Country: The Diary of Zipporah Feldman a Jewish Immigrant Girl, New York City, 1903
• Christmas After All: The Great Depression Diary of Minnie Swift, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1932
• A Time for Courage: The Suffragette Diary of Kathleen Bowen, Washington, D.C., 1917

My Name Is America

• The Journal of Augustus Pelletier: Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804

My America

1. Hope In My Heart, Sofia's Ellis Island Diary

1. Home at Last: Sofia's Immigrant Diary

1. An American Spring: Sofia's Immigrant Diary

Portraits

• Dancing Through Fire

Daughters of the Sea

1. Hannah (September 2009)

Starbuck Family Adventures

1. Double Trouble Squared
2. Shadows in the Water
3. A Voice in the Wind

Guardians of Ga'Hoole

1. The Capture
2. The Journey
3. The Rescue
4. The Siege
5. The Shattering
6. The Burning
7. The Hatchling
8. The Outcast
9. The First Collier
10. The Coming of Hoole
11. To Be a King
12. The Golden Tree
13. The River of Wind
14. Exile
15. The War of the Ember
16. A Guide Book to the Great Tree
17. Lost Tales of Ga'Hoole

Bears of the Ice

• The Quest of the Cubs
• The Den of Forever Frost
• The Keepers of The Keys

Standalone titles

• The Last Girls of Pompeii
• Blood Secret
• Broken Song
• Star Split
• Alice Rose and Sam
• True North
• Beyond the Burning Time
• Memoirs of a Bookbat'
• The Bone Wars
• Pageant
• Beyond the Divide
• The Night Journey
• Prank
• Hawksmaid
• Ashes

Children/Young adults non-fiction

• 3038 Staat der Klone
• John Muir: America's First Environmentalist
• Interrupted Journey: Saving Endangered Sea Turtles
• Shadows in the Dawn: The Lemurs of Madagascar
• The Most Beautiful Roof in the World
• Sugaring Time
• Searching for Laura Ingalls
• Monarchs
• Surtsey: The Newest Place on Earth
• Dinosaur Dig
• Traces of Life
• A Baby for Max

Picture Books

• Lunch Bunnies
• Show and Tell Bunnies
• Science Fair Bunnies
• Tumble Bunnies
• Lucille's Snowsuit
• Lucille Camps In
• Starring Lucille
• Pirate Bob
• Humphrey, Albert, and the Flying Machine
• A Voice of Her Own: The Story of Phillis Wheatley, Slave Poet
• Mommy's Hands
• Porkenstein
• Born in the Breezes: The Voyages Of Joshua Slocum
• Vision of Beauty
• First Painter
• The Emperor's Old Clothes
• Sophie and Rose
• Marven of the Great North Woods
• Hercules: The Man, The Myth, The Hero
• The Librarian Who Measured the Earth
• She's Wearing a Dead Bird on Her Head!
• The Gates of the Wind
• Cloud Eyes
• I Have an Aunt on Marlborough Street
• Sea Swan
• My Island Grandma

Adult

• Night Gardening (written under the pseudonym of E.L. Swann)
• Mumbo Jumbo
• Mortal Words
• Trace Elements
• The Widow of Oz
• Dark Swan

Other author relations

• In the book Max the Mighty, the author Rodman Philbrick gives Kathryn Lasky his thanks for pointing him in the right direction.