Katherine Ayres facts for kids

Katherine Ayres is an American writer who creates books for children. She lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She also helped start a special writing group for plays at the Pittsburgh Public Theater. In 2008, she said she was a "poster child for early literacy," meaning she was a great example of someone who helps young children learn to read.

About Katherine Ayres

Her Early Life

Katherine Ayres was born in 1947 in Columbus, Ohio. She grew up in different states, including Ohio, West Virginia, and New York. She finished high school in West Islip, New York, in 1965. Later, she earned her college degree from The College of Wooster in 1969 and an advanced degree from Tufts University in 1974.

Her Career as a Writer and Educator

Before becoming a full-time author, Katherine Ayres worked as a teacher and an elementary school principal. She started writing books for children in the 1990s.

In 2008, she traveled across Pennsylvania for a special program called "Pennsylvania One Book, Every Young Child." She read her book, Up, Down, and Around, to many young children. As part of this program, about 90,000 copies of her book were given out to childcare centers, Head Start programs, and libraries. This program helped around 500,000 children that year. Also in 2008, a poem she wrote, called Roadside Shrine, was published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspaper.

Today, Katherine Ayres helps run a special writing program at Chatham University in Pittsburgh. This program is for people who want to learn how to write books for kids and teenagers.

Books by Katherine Ayres

• Family Tree, fiction (1996)
• North by Night: A Story of the Underground Railroad, fiction (1998)
• Voices at Whisper Bend, fiction (1999)
• Silver Dollar Girl, fiction (2000)
• Under Copp's Hill, fiction (2000)
• Stealing South: A Story of the Underground Railroad, fiction (2001)
• A Long Way, fiction (2003)
• Macaroni Boy, fiction (2003)
• Matthew's Truck, fiction (2005)
• Up, Down, and Around, fiction (2007)