About Charlotte
My first brush with literary criticism came in my last year of elementary school. Miss Snow, my beautiful English teacher with snow-white hair, read one of my stories aloud to the class and asked them to comment. At the end of the day, I had some twenty signed pieces of paper which read, “Gee, Charlie, that was a good story … It made me laugh out loud … the ending was a surprise …”
I don’t recall the story, but I do recall the pure happiness with which I read these comments. These weren’t my parents; this was a whole classroom of kids who hardly knew me. Perhaps this is the kind of reassurance that one looks for in a writer’s workshop.
The opening sentence of the first manuscript I submitted was, “John was a bear and so was his grandmother.” I received five hundred dollars and became a published author.
Charlotte is the author of 35 books for children. Listed below are several of her award-winning titles.
- POSY – Christopher Award; Junior Literary Guild selection
- THE MOUSERY – Christopher Award
- THE HALF-BIRTHDAY PARTY – Junior Literary Guild selection
- THE MANGO TOOTH – Junior Literary Guild selection
- TAMARINDO PUPPY – Notable Book, ALA; Reading Rainbow Book
- IF I HAD A PAKA – Honor Book, Jane Addams Children’s Book Award
- THE PRINCESS AND THE ADMIRAL – Jane Addams Children’s Book Award
- THE DAY THEY PARACHUTED CATS ON BORNEO – International Board on Books for Young People for the International Year of the Child
- HOW MANY TRUCKS CAN A TOW TRUCK TOW? – Children’s Book of the Year, Library of Congress
- PIGGY IN THE PUDDLE – Reading Rainbow Book; New York Times Outstanding Picture Book of the Year