Deborah Hopkinson

Deborah Hopkinson (born February 4, 1952)^[1] is an American writer of over seventy children's books, primarily historical fiction, nonfiction and picture books.

Deborah Hopkinson
Born	(1952-02-04) February 4, 1952 (age 72) Lowell, Massachusetts
Occupation	Author
Spouse	Andrew D. Thomas
Children	2
Website	deborahhopkinson.com

Personal life and education

Hopkinson was born February 4, 1952, in Lowell, Massachusetts^[2] to Russell W. and Gloria D. Hopkinson.^[1]

She received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1973 and a Master of Arts from the University of Hawaiʻi in 1978.^[1]

Hopkinson is married to Andrew D. Thomas, and the couple has two children: Rebekah and Dimitri.^[1] She presently lives near Portland, Oregon.^[3]

Career

Before writing full-time, Hopkinson worked as a philanthropic fundraiser with Oregon State University, Whitman College, and the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.^[4] From 1981 to 1984, she served as the marketing director for the Manoa Valley Theater in Honolulu.^[4] Afterwards, she worked as a development director at the University of Hawaiʻi Foundation (1985 to 1989), then the East–West Center in Honolulu (1989 to 1994).^[4] For the next decade, she was the director of grants at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, after which she served as the director for foundation relations for the Oregon State University Foundation in Corvallis, Oregon.^[4]

Hopkinson published her first book in 1993 and has since published more than 70 books for children, including the Sibert Honor title, Titanic: Voices from the Disaster.

Awards and honors

Twenty-three of Hopkinson's books are Junior Library Guild selections:

• A Band of Angels (May 1995)^[5]
• Birdie’s Lighthouse (September 1997)^[6]
• Bluebird Summer (June 2001)^[7]
• Fannie in the Kitchen (September 2001)^[8]
• Girl Wonder (May 2003)^[9]
• Apples to Oregon (November 2004)^[10]
• Up Before Daybreak (August 2006)^[11]
• Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek (November 2008)^[12]
• Home on the Range (January 2009)^[13]
• Stagecoach Sal (February 2009)^[14]
• A Boy Called Dickens (February 2012)^[15]
• Titanic (April 2012)^[16]
• Annie and Helen (November 2012)^[17]
• Knit Your Bit (April 2013)^[18]
• The Great Trouble (January 2014)^[19]
• A Bandit’s Tale (June 2016)^[20]
• Steamboat School (August 2016)^[21]
• Dive! World War II Stories of Sailors & Submarines in the Pacific (November 2016)^[22]
• D-Day: The World War II Invasion That Changed History (October 2018)^[23]
• Carter Reads the Newspaper (February 2019)^[24]
• Deadliest Hurricanes Then and Now (April 2022)^[25]
• The Story of a Story (June 2022)^[26]
• The Deadliest Fires Then and Now (October 2022)^[27]

In 2012, Titanic: Voices from the Disaster was named one of the best nonfiction children's books of the year by The Horn Book Magazine.^[28]

In 2017, Booklist included Steamboat School on their "Top 10 Historical Fiction for Youth" list.^[29]

In 2019, Carter Reads the Newspaper was named one of the best books of the year by the Chicago Public Library and the New York Public Library.^[24]

The Story of a Story was included in the Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choices 2021.^[30]

Awards for Hopkinson's writing

Year	Title	Award	Result	Ref.
1994	Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt	International Reading Association Book Award for Younger Readers	Winner	[31]
2000	A Band of Angels	ALSC Notable Children's Book	Selection	[32]
		Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Text	Winner	[33]
		Jane Addams Children's Book Award: Picture Book	Honor	[34]
2004	Girl Wonder	Jane Addams Children's Book Award: Picture Book	Honor	[34]
	Shutting Out the Sky	Jane Addams Children's Book Award: Book for Older Children	Honor	[34]
		NCTE Orbis Pictus Award	Honor	[35]
2005	Apples to Oregon	ALSC Notable Children's Book	Selection	[36]
		Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Text	Winner
		Spur Award for Storyteller	Winner	[37]
2006	Sky Boys	Boston Globe–Horn Book Award	Honor	[38]
2007	Up Before Daybreak	Carter G. Woodson Book Award: Middle Level	Honor	[39]
2008	Abe Lincoln Crosses A Creek	Cybils Award for Fiction Picture book	Finalist	[40]
2009		ALSC Notable Children's Book	Selection	[41]
2009–2010	Keep On!	Eloise Jarvis McGraw Award for Children's Literature	Winner
2012	Titanic: Voices From the Disaster	Cybils Award for Nonfiction Middle Grade & Young Adult	Finalist	[42]
		Oregon Spirit Award for Nonfiction	Honor	[43]
2013	The Great Trouble	Oregon Spirit Award for Middle Reader	Winner	[43]
	Knit Your Bit	Oregon Spirit Award for Picture Books	Winner	[43]
	Annie and Helen	Eloise Jarvis McGraw Award for Children's Literature	Finalist	[44][45]
	A Boy Called Dickens	Eloise Jarvis McGraw Award for Children's Literature	Nominee	[46]
	Titanic: Voices from the Disaster	ALSC Notable Children's Book	Selection	[47]
		Eloise Jarvis McGraw Award for Children's Literature	Nominee	[46]
		Sibert Medal	Honor	[48]
		YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction	Finalist	[49]
2014	Knit Your Bit	Eloise Jarvis McGraw Award for Children's Literature	Finalist	[50]
2015	Courage & Defiance	Oregon Spirit Award for Nonfiction	Winner	[43]
	The Great Trouble	Eloise Jarvis McGraw Award for Children's Literature	Finalist	[51]
2016	Courage & Defiance	NCTE Orbis Pictus Award	Recommended	[52]
	Dive!	Oregon Spirit Award for Nonfiction	Honor	[43]
	The Great Trouble	Mathical	Honor	[53]
	Steamboat School	Booklist Editors' Choice: Books for Youth	Selection	[54]
2017	A Bandit’s Tale	Leslie Bradshaw Award for Young Adult Literature	Nominee	[55]
		NCTE Charlotte Huck Award	Recommended	[56]
	Beatrix Potter and the Unfortunate Tale of a Borrowed Guinea Pig	Eloise Jarvis McGraw Award for Children's Literature	Nominee	[55]
	Courage & Defiance	Leslie Bradshaw Award for Young Adult Literature	Finalist	[57]
	Dive!	NCTE Orbis Pictus Award	Recommended	[52]
	Follow the Moon Home	Green Book Award for Picture Book	Winner	[58]
	Steamboat School	Association for Library Service to Children Notable Children's Book	Selection	[59]
		Eloise Jarvis McGraw Award for Children's Literature	Finalist	[60]
		Jane Addams Children's Book Award: Book for Younger Children	Winner	[61][62]
2018	Dive!	Leslie Bradshaw Award for Young Adult Literature	Nominee	[63]
	Independence Cake	Eloise Jarvis McGraw Award for Children's Literature	Nominee	[63]
	A Letter to my Teacher	Eloise Jarvis McGraw Award for Children's Literature	Nominee	[63]
2019	Carter Reads the Newspaper	Oregon Spirit Award for Nonfiction	Honor	[43]
	D-Day: The World War II Invasion That Changed History	YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction	Nominee	[64]
	Ordinary, Extraordinary Jane Austen	Eloise Jarvis McGraw Award for Children's Literature	Finalist	[65]
2020	Butterflies Belong Here	Oregon Spirit Award for Picture Books	Honor	[43]
	Carter Reads the Newspaper	ALSC Notable Children's Book	Selection	[66]
		Carter G. Woodson Book Award: Elementary Level	Honor	[39]
		Eloise Jarvis McGraw Award for Children's Literature	Finalist	[67]
	How I Became a Spy	Leslie Bradshaw Award for Young Adult Literature	Winner	[68][69]
	Under the Bodhi Tree	Independent Publisher Bronze Award for Children’s Picture Books		[70]
2021	Butterflies Belong Here	Eloise Jarvis McGraw Award for Children's Literature	Finalist	[71]
		Green Book Award	Winner	[58]
	We Had to Be Brave	Leslie Bradshaw Award for Young Adult Literature	Finalist	[71]
		NCTE Orbis Pictus Award	Recommended	[52]
2022	We Must Not Forget	Leslie Bradshaw Award for Young Adult Literature	Finalist	[72]
		NCTE Orbis Pictus Award	Recommended	[73]

Selected books

Picture books

• Fannie in the Kitchen: The Whole Story from Soup to Nuts of How Fannie Farmer Invented Recipes with Precise Measurements, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter. Atheneum, 2001.^[74][75][76]

Early Readers

• Birdie’s Lighthouse, illustrated by Kimberly Bulcken Root (1997)
• Maria’s Comet, illustrated by Deborah Lanino (1999)
• A Band of Angels, illustrated by Raúl Colón (2002)
• Girl Wonder: A Baseball Story in Nine Innings, illustrated by Terry Widener (2003)
• Apples to Oregon: Being the (Slightly) True Narrative of How a Brave Pioneer Father Brought Apples, Peaches, Pears, Plums, Grapes, and Cherries (and Children) Across the Plains, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter (2004)
• Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek: A Tall Thin Tale, illustrated by John Hendrix (2008)
• Annie and Helen, illustrated by Raúl Colón (2012)
• Knit Your Bit: A World War I Story, illustrated by Steven Guarnaccia (2013)
• Philippe Cousteau illustrated by Meilo So (2016)
• Beatrix Potter and the Unfortunate Tale of a Borrowed Guinea Pig, illustrated by Charlotte Voake (2016)
• A Letter to My Teacher, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter (2017)
• Under the Bodhi Tree: A Story of the Buddha, illustrated by Kailey Whitman (2018)
• Ordinary, Extraordinary Jane Austen: The Story of Six Novels, Three Notebooks, a Writing Box, and One Clever Girl, illustrated by Qin Leng (2018)
• Butterflies Belong Here: A Story of One Idea, Thirty Kids, and a World of Butterflies, illustrated by Meilo So (2020)
• My Little Golden Book about Dolly Parton (2021)
• My Little Golden Book about Betty White (2021)
• The Story of a Story, illustrated by Hadley Hooper (2021)
• Cinderella and a Mouse Called Fred, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky (2023)
• Happy Earth Day! (2023)

Middle Grade

• Hear My Sorrow: The Diary of Angela Denoto, A Shirtwaist Worker, New York City, 1909 (2004)
• The Great Trouble: A Mystery of London, the Blue Death, and a Boy Called Eel (2013)
• Courage & Defiance: Stories of Spies, Saboteurs, and Survivors in World War II Denmark (2015)
• A Bandit’s Tale: The Muddled Misadventures of a Pickpocket (2016)
• Dive!: World War II Stories of Sailors & Submarines in the Pacific (2016)
• D‑Day: The World War II Invasion That Changed History (2018)
• The Deadliest Diseases Then and Now (2021)
• We Must Not Forget: Holocaust Stories of Survival and Resistance (2021)
• The Deadliest Fires Then and Now (2022)
• The Deadliest Hurricanes Then and Now (2022)

See also

References

1. "Deborah Hopkinson". Encyclopedia.com. Archived from the original on 2022-10-20. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
2. "Bio". Deborah Hopkinson (deborahhopkinson.com). Archived from the original on 2008-05-07. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
3. "Deborah Hopkinson". AdLit. Archived from the original on 2022-12-09. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
4. Corbett, Sue (2016-04-14). "Q & A with Deborah Hopkinson". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on 2022-08-15. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
5. "A Band of Angels: A Story Inspired by the Jubilee Singers by Deborah Hopkinson". Junior Library Guild. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
6. "Birdie's Lighthouse by Deborah Hopkinson". Junior Library Guild. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
7. "Bluebird Summer by Deborah Hopkinson". Junior Library Guild. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
8. "Fannie in the Kitchen by Deborah Hopkinson". Junior Library Guild. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
9. "Girl Wonder: A Baseball Story in Nine Innings by Deborah Hopkinson". Junior Library Guild. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
10. "Apples to Oregon: Being the (Slightly) True Narrative of How a Brave Pioneer Father Brought Apples, Peaches, Pears, Plums, Grapes, and Cherries (and Children) Across the Plains by Deborah Hopkinson". Junior Library Guild. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
11. "Up Before Daybreak: Cotton and People in America by Deborah Hopkinson". Junior Library Guild. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
12. "Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek: A Tall, Thin Tale (Introducing His Forgotten Frontier Friend) by Deborah Hopkinson". Junior Library Guild. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
13. "Home on the Range: John A. Lomax and His Cowboy Songs by Deborah Hopkinson". Junior Library Guild. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
14. "Stagecoach Sal by Deborah Hopkinson". Junior Library Guild. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
15. "A Boy Called Dickens by Deborah Hopkinson". Junior Library Guild. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
16. "Titanic: Voices from the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson". Junior Library Guild. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
17. "Annie and Helen by Deborah Hopkinson". Junior Library Guild. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
18. "Knit Your Bit: A World War I Story by Deborah Hopkinson". Junior Library Guild. Archived from the original on 2022-01-28. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
19. "The Great Trouble: A Mystery of London, the Blue Death, and a Boy Called Eel by Deborah Hopkinson". Junior Library Guild. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
20. "A Bandit's Tale:The Muddled Misadventures of a Pickpocket by Deborah Hopkinson". Junior Library Guild. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
21. "Steamboat School by Deborah Hopkinson". Junior Library Guild. Archived from the original on 2021-12-04. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
22. "Dive! World War II Stories of Sailors & Submarines in the Pacific by Deborah Hopkinson". Junior Library Guild. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
23. "D-Day: The World War II Invasion That Changed History by Deborah Hopkinson". Junior Library Guild. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
24. "Carter Reads the Newspaper by Deborah Hopkinson". Junior Library Guild. Archived from the original on 2022-07-02. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
25. "Deadliest Hurricanes Then and Now: The Deadliest #2 by Deborah Hopkinson". Junior Library Guild. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
26. "The Story of a Story by Deborah Hopkinson". Junior Library Guild. Archived from the original on 2022-09-28. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
27. "The Deadliest Fires Then and Now: The Deadliest #3 by Deborah Hopkinson". Junior Library Guild. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
28. "Horn Book Fanfare 1938 to present". The Horn Book. Archived from the original on 2021-10-30. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
29. Smith, Julia (2017-04-15). "Top 10 Historical Fiction for Youth: 2017". Booklist. Archived from the original on 2022-08-11. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
30. "The Story of a Story". Deborah Hopkinson. Archived from the original on 2022-11-29. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
31. "IRA Children's and Young Adult's Book Awards". International Reading Association. 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-05-12. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
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37. "Winners". Western Writers of America. 2012-05-12. Archived from the original on 2021-02-04. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
38. "Past Boston Globe–Horn Book Award Winners". The Horn Book. 2022-01-10. Archived from the original on 2023-01-14. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
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40. "2008 Cybils Finalists". Archived from the original on 2023-03-23. Retrieved 2023-03-21.
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66. Schulte-Cooper, Laura (2020-02-25). "ALSC names 2020 Notable Children's Books". American Library Association. Archived from the original on 2020-06-17. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
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69. "2020 Oregon Book Award Winners". Literary Arts. 2020-06-23. Archived from the original on 2021-09-17. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
70. "Under the Bodhi Tree". Deborah Hopkinson. Archived from the original on 2022-11-29. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
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74. FANNIE IN THE KITCHEN | Kirkus Reviews.
75. "FANNIE IN THE KITCHEN by Deborah Hopkinson". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved 2023-05-10.
76. "Children's Books". archive.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2023-05-10.

External links

• Official website
• Deborah Hopkinson at Library of Congress, with 45 library catalog records
• Deborah Hopkinson at Fantastic Fiction