In Memory: Patricia Hermes

By Gayleen Rabakukk
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

Author Patricia Hermes died July 11, while Cynsations was on hiatus. She was 82.

After writing articles for national parenting magazines and an Op-Ed piece for The New York Times, a literary agent approached Hermes about writing for children.

"Hermes promptly wrote What If They Knew (Harcourt, 1980), a middle grade novel about a girl with epilepsy—something she had suffered from in childhood—starting at a new school. Thus began her career...