AdLit.org is a national multimedia project offering information and resources to the parents and educators of struggling adolescent readers and writers. AdLit.org is an educational initiative of WETA, the flagship public television and radio station in the nation's capital, and is funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York and by the Ann B. and Thomas L. Friedman Family Foundation.
Bio
Deborah Hopkinson was born in Lowell, Massachusetts. From an early age she was an avid reader, even hiding her own books inside the school textbooks she was supposed to be reading in class. History and science were her favorite school subjects, and remain topics she frequently writes about.
After reading many children's books to her young daughter, Hopkinson began her own career as an author and quickly found an audience. Her first published work, the picture book Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, was recognized by the International Reading Association and Reading Rainbows. From picture books like Birdie's Lighthouse to non-fiction for young adults like Up Before Daybreak and Shutting Out the Sky, Hopkinson's award-winning books combine attention to small details with a presentation — text, illustration, and photographs — that engage young people with history.
Hopkinson has produced an impressive body of work, even as she worked full-time in philanthropy at the University of Hawaii, Oregon State University, and now at the Pacific Northwest College of Art.
Deborah Hopkinson and her family live in Corvallis, Oregon.
Selected Books
from Deborah Hopkinson
Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek: A Tall, Thin Tale
Age Level: 9-12
Drama abounds in what might have happened if Austin Gollaher had not pulled the young Abraham Lincoln from a swollen Kentucky creek that day in 1816. This engaging tale was inspired and expanded from a real event noted by the author.
Age Level: 12-14
Life for immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was filled with challenges, documented here through the lives of five young people from different countries. Black & white photographs add riveting detail.
Age Level: 12-14
Cotton has played a significant role in the history of the United States. Archival photographs and a clear text are used to explore King Cotton from Colonial times to the Industrial Revolution.
