Stephanie's Fans (3)

Stephanie Spinner

Author profile

website

http://www.stephaniespinner.com/

genre

Children's Books, Young Adult

About this author

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I was born in Davenport, Iowa, and grew up in Rockaway Beach, New York. I read straight through my childhood, with breaks for food, sleep, and the bathroom. I went to college in Bennington, Vermont, moved to New York City, and took a job in publishing so I could get paid for reading. I read so much bad fiction that I needed a break, so I moved to London, and from there I traveled to Morocco, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan India, Nepal, and Ceylon. I came back to America, wandered around some more -- to Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize -- and on returning to New York decided to study Tibetan Buddhist painting (called thangka painting) in Boulder, Colorado.

I painted thangkas for many years. Each one took anywhere from several weeks to a few months...more I was born in Davenport, Iowa, and grew up in Rockaway Beach, New York. I read straight through my childhood, with breaks for food, sleep, and the bathroom. I went to college in Bennington, Vermont, moved to New York City, and took a job in publishing so I could get paid for reading. I read so much bad fiction that I needed a break, so I moved to London, and from there I traveled to Morocco, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan India, Nepal, and Ceylon. I came back to America, wandered around some more -- to Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize -- and on returning to New York decided to study Tibetan Buddhist painting (called thangka painting) in Boulder, Colorado.

I painted thangkas for many years. Each one took anywhere from several weeks to a few months to complete, and at long last I understood that this was not the ideal way for me to make a living. Only a few hundred Americans collected thangkas, and they wanted old ones, painted by Tibetan monks. It was time to make a change.

So I took another publishing job, this time in children’s books. I found that I liked children’s books a lot, and before long, I became an editor.

Years passed. I was encouraged to write. I scoffed at the idea that I had anything to write about. I edited some wonderfully talented authors -- Virginia Hamilton, Philip Isaacson, Clyde Robert Bulla, Gloria Whelan, Robin McKinley, Joan Vinge, Garth Nix, and Chris Lynch, among others -- with great enjoyment. Writing seemed like torture by comparison.

Then, to my amazement, I found myself writing a book and having a good time -- simultaneously! The book was ALIENS FOR BREAKFAST, and I enjoyed writing it because my co-author was Jonathan Etra. Jon (who died of heart disease in 1990) was a close friend with a wild sense of humor, and collaborating with him changed my opinion of writing forever. After ALIENS FOR BREAKFAST, and ALIENS FOR LUNCH, which we also co-wrote, I began to think that writing could be interesting fun.

And now that I’ve been doing it full-time for more than ten years, I can tell you why I like it better than a job. First, I can work in my bathrobe. (To the FedEx man and the UPS man, I am "the woman in the plaid flannel robe.") Second, I can eat when I’m hungry, choose when to take phone calls, and walk my dogs any time. Third, the only meetings I have -- and they’re short -- are with the dry cleaner and the post office ladies. Fourth, I can read whatever I please. I may tell people I’m doing research when I read about horse-trekking, or hunting in ancient Greece, or 16 ways to better compost, but the truth is, I’m not doing research, I’m having a good time. Which I think is still allowed.(less)

combine editions
Books by Stephanie Spinner

Average rating: 3.53 · 920 ratings · 177 reviews · 47 distinct works

	Quiver 3.48 avg rating — 324 ratings — published 2002 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Quicksilver 3.60 avg rating — 212 ratings — published 2005 — 5 editions	My rating:
	Aliens for Breakfast by Stephanie Spinner, Jonathan Etra 3.69 avg rating — 93 ratings — published 1988 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Damosel: In Which the Lady of the Lake Renders a Frank and Often Startling Account of her Wondrous Life and Times 3.00 avg rating — 96 ratings — published 2008 — 5 editions	My rating:
	Who Was Annie Oakley? by Stephanie Spinner, Nancy Harrison (Illustrator), Larry Day (Illustrator) 3.72 avg rating — 47 ratings — published 2002 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Aliens For Lunch by Stephanie Spinner, Jonathan Etra 3.57 avg rating — 35 ratings — published 1991 — 4 editions	My rating:
	Aliens for Dinner by Stephanie Spinner, Steve Björkman (Illustrator), Steve Bjorkman (Illustrations) 3.53 avg rating — 15 ratings — published 1994 — 5 editions	My rating:
	The Mummy's Tomb (Choose Your Own Adventure: Young Readers, #24) 3.12 avg rating — 17 ratings — published 1985 — 2 editions	My rating:
	It's a Miracle!: A Hanukkah Storybook by Stephanie Spinner, Jill McElmurry (Goodreads Author) (Illustrator) 4.09 avg rating — 11 ratings — published 2003 — 2 editions	My rating:
	The Nutcracker by Stephanie Spinner, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Peter Malone (Illustrator) 4.12 avg rating — 8 ratings — published 2008 — 5 editions	My rating: