Linda got her first library card when she was four – according to family lore, her six-year-old sister had taught her to read — and Linda’s been carrying books home by the armload ever since. Her first publication was a poem about spring in AMERICAN GIRL magazine when she was in fifth grade. Reading and writing – she was hooked!
Linda’s first stories appeared in magazines such as CRICKET, SPIDER, LADYBUG, ASTRAPI (a French children’s magazine), and SCHOOL (an Australian children’s magazine). Now, after eleven books, her published work has been translated into French, Italian, Swedish, German, and Russian.
Her most recent books are A Different Kind of Passover (Kar-Ben, 2017), Best Friends Pretend (Cartwheel Books, 2013), and Preschool Day Hooray! (Cartwheel Books, 2010). An additional picture book, Numbers Everywhere! is due out from Holiday House in 2021.
Awards include the Sydney Taylor Honor Award; the Anne Izard Storytellers Award; Bank Street Best Book Award; and New York Public Library “Best Books for the Teen Age.”
In addition to working on her own books, she has taught writing for children at the Institute of Children’s Literature and Cincinnati’s Mt. St. Joseph University, as well as in many workshops and seminars. Her visits to school classrooms inspired a how-to book for middle school youth about writing, entitled Drop Everything and Write! (now an ebook at www.seculareclecticacademic.com)
Linda lives with her husband in Wyoming, Ohio
Website: www.lindaleopoldstrauss.com
