My first picture book, Purple Mountain Majesties, was a Junior Library Guild selection and a Scholastic Book Club selection. With my friend Lisa Flinn, I have published seven holiday picture books including Mystery in the Stable and The Christmas Garland. During the school year, I teach writing at a college. When I’m not teaching, more times than not I am writing. I have lots of stories in the works! And I just finished a novel, Keeping Jumper, based on the frog you see above.
Recently, I earned an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts. I began my professional life as a children’s librarian after receiving an MSLS from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. My undergraduate days were spent at Duke University (Go Blue Devils!), where I majored in history and French literature.
Today I share a 177 year old yellow house in the town of Hillsborough, North Carolina with my husband Cliff, cat Lillian, and resident spiders and mice. I have two grown daughters, Katherine and Laura. Next to my family and books, some of my favorite things include birthday cake, the ocean, hiking, snow, and my collections of bookmarks, dolls, and antique toys.
My best advice to beginning writers is to read, read, read. Read the books forward, read them backward, read them slowly, one word at a time. See how the masters do it, and then create your very own style.
I like to speak to kids and adults about writing. I can be reached at BKYounger@gmail.com
The carousel in my header is a 1912 Herschell Spillman Carousel.
The cover of my latest book from Abingdon Press, Around the Year in Children’s Church:
I’m pleased to have three poems and three blog pieces in Lisa Winkler’s anthology, Tangerine Tango: Women Writers Share Slices of Life. Proceeds from the book go to the Huntington’s Disease Society of America.
