Born:
July  28, 1932
Dayton, Ohio,

Current Home:
Providence, Rhode Island,

Natalie Babbitt

Biography

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I was born and raised in Ohio. During my childhood, I spent most of my time drawing and reading fairy tales and myths. My mother, an amateur landscape and portrait painter, gave me art lessons. She always made sure I had enough paper, paint, pencils, and encouragement. I grew up wanting only to be an illustrator. I studied art at Laurel School in Cleveland and at Smith College.

Right after graduation, I married Samuel Fisher Babbitt, an academic administrator. I spent the next ten years in Connecticut, Tennessee, and Washington, D.C., raising our children, Christopher, Tom, and Lucy.

My husband took time out from his academic career to write a novel and discovered that he didn't enjoy the long, lonely hours that writing demanded. My sister produced a comic novel, which required substantial rewriting. I learned three valuable things from observing my husband's and sister's forays into the writer's world: You have to give writing your full attention. You have to like the revision process. And you have to like to be alone. But it was years before I put any of this to good use.

In 1966, my husband and I collaborated on a children's book called The Forty-ninth Magician — he wrote it and I illustrated it. With encouragement from our editor at Farrar, Straus & Giroux, I continued producing children's books even after my husband became too busy to write the stories.

I write for children because I am interested in fantasy and the possibilities for experience of all kinds before the time of compromise. I believe that children are far more perceptive and wise than American books give them credit for being.

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  The Search for Delicious by Natalie Babbitt "What is the definition of Delicious? The King's all for apples, the Queen favors Christmas pudding, and soon the entry in the Prime Minister's dictionary is a bone of contention throughout the court. Alarmed, the King dispatches young Gaylen to take a poll of the whole kingdom. In short order, the country is on the brink of civil war." - Kirkus Reviews. $1.00 You save: 75% Paperback Book | Grades 3-5

  
  The Search for Delicious
  Grades 3-5 $1.00
  
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  Jack Plank Tells Tales by Natalie Babbitt Yes, Jack Plank started out to be a pirate. His shipmates all liked him, and their ship, the Avarice, was certainly very beautiful. But after a while it was clear that he wasn't much good a plundering. He just didn't have the knack for it. So what to do? Jack did the only thing he could do - he went ashore to look for another line of work. The town was called Saltwash, on the coast of the Caribbean Sea, and he had a lot of helpful advice from the people in Mrs. DelFresno's boardinghouse. Some $15.95 Paperback Book | Grades 4-Up

  
  Jack Plank Tells Tales
  Grades 4-Up $15.95