Kathryn White facts for kids

Kathryn White is a British author who writes books for children. She lives in Bristol, England.

About Kathryn White

Kathryn White was born in Bradford-on-Avon, England, in 1956. Today, she lives in Somerset with her husband, David. They have two teenage children. Kathryn and David also have three older children.

Kathryn is a member of the Society of Authors. She cares about helping children. For example, she wrote a poem called "A Mother's War Song" for a book called Lines in the Sand (2004). This book shared stories about children facing tough times.

She also wrote a short story called "Roman Gladiators." This story was in a book called Wow! 366 from Scholastic. Other famous writers like Roddy Doyle and Charlie Higson were also in this book. Wow! 366 had 366 short stories, each with 366 words. It was made to help kids with reading and writing. Money from the book went to Childline, a charity that helps children.

In 2009, Kathryn and other authors worked to keep libraries funded. They asked the Somerset County Council to continue supporting the Children's Library Service.

Kathryn's First Books

Kathryn started writing when she was in her forties. Her three oldest children were already in high school. She felt ready to write about her own childhood.

Her first book was When They Fight, published in 1998. Cliff Wright drew the pictures for this book. He used pictures of badgers to tell the story in a gentle way. This was the start of Kathryn working with many talented artists. These artists helped bring her characters to life.

Around this time, Kathryn also wrote Snowshoe the Hare. Ruth Rivers illustrated this book, which came out in 2005.

In 1999, Kathryn began working with Ginn, an educational publisher. She wrote many short stories for them. Her first short story, "The Tupilak," was published as its own book in 2000.

Working with Little Tiger Press

Since 2003, Kathryn has written several popular picture books for Little Tiger Press.

• Here Comes the Crocodile (2003) was a bestseller. Michael Terry drew the pictures for it.
• The Nutty Nut Chase (2005) was illustrated by Vanessa Cabban.
• Click, Clack, Crocodile's Back (2009) is a sequel to Here Comes the Crocodile. Joelle Dreidemy illustrated this book.

Here Comes the Crocodile was very popular. It was nominated for two awards in 2005: the Nottingham Children's Book Award and the Sheffield Book Award.

Kathryn also wrote a series of six books for very young children. These books are for Caterpillar Books. Sleepy Time (2009), with pictures by Sanja Reskek, was the first. Cheese Hunt (2010), illustrated by Corinne Bittler, was one of the later books in the series.

Barefoot Books Project

In 2009, Kathryn started working with Tessa Strickland. Tessa is one of the people who started Barefoot Books. They created a new character named Ruby. Their first book together was Ruby's School Walk, published in 2010.

Other Activities

Kathryn often visits Literary Festivals across the UK. She enjoys sharing stories and fun activities with children. She has been a regular guest at the Birmingham Children's Book Festival. She also takes part in the Cheltenham Literary Festival.

In 2006 and 2009, Kathryn performed at the Edinburgh International Children's Book Festival. She led workshops where kids could make animal masks and listen to stories. In 2009, her friend and fellow author Julia Donaldson even joined her as a crocodile!

Kathryn also visits schools and libraries in the UK. She loves meeting her readers and talking about books.