Phyllis Root

I was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on Valentine's Day, 1949, and grew up among green grass, gardens, trees, open fields, and books, books, books. My father says he remembers me reading in my high chair. I used to make up stories in bed at night when I couldn't sleep and my parents had caught me with my book and flashlight. Of course, I was the heroine in all those stories. My cousins loved the ghost stories I would tell them. By fifth grade I knew I wanted to be a writer, but I did not start writing books until I was thirty, when I took a class that taught me all those tools of writing I had never encountered before, tools like character, setting, plot, tension, dialogue, and so on. I have been writing for over twenty years now and still love messing around with stories.

In those years I have published thirty books, starting with Moon Tiger in 1985. In 1997 Aunt Nancy and Old Man Trouble, an original tale about a female trickster, won the Minnesota Picture Book text award. What Baby Wants was cited as a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year in 1998. Big Momma Makes the World won the 2003 Boston Globe Horn Book Award for picture books.

I am currently teaching in the MFA Writing for Children program of Hamline University. I live in Minneapolis with my two cats, and numerous butterflies in season amid prairie plants, trees, lakes, and books, books, books. In my spare time I love canoeing, sailing, gardening, and of course reading.



					Lilly and the Pirates illustrated by Rob Shepperson Boyds Mills Press, 2010 ages 9 to 12, ISBN 978-1590785836 A sighting of the rare frangipani fruit fly sends Lilly's scientist parents off in search of the fabled Shipwreck Islands. Lilly awaits their return at the home of her great-uncle Ernest, the chief librarian of Mundelaine, a town that seems to have more than its share of piratical-looking characters lurking about. When news comes that her parents' ship has wrecked, she must overcome her fear of the sea, find the hidden island, and outsmart a bunch of treasure-hungry pirates to save the day.



					Big Belching Bog illustrated by Betsy Bowen University of Minnesota Press, 2010 ages 4 to 8, ISBN 978-0816633593 In Big Belching Bog, Phyllis Root lets us in on the secrets of the mysterious bog, describing such special inhabitants as plants that eat insects, bog lemmings, and frogs that stay frozen through the winter and thaw out in the spring. But what's that coming up from the bottom of the bog? The biggest bog secret of all is the remarkable process of methane gas belching out of the bog. The gas is created by decaying peat moss and forms a bulge in the surface of the moss six inches or taller before breaking through.



					Creak! Said the Bed illustrated by Regan Dunnick Candlewick, 2010 ages 4 to 8, ISBN 978-0763620042 It’s the middle of the night. Everyone’s snoozing in bed when out of the darkness, squeak goes the door. Mama’s eyes fly open. Who is awake? Evie? Ivy? Little Mo? On a stormy night in a little house, only Papa keeps snoring away—snurkle, snark—unaware of the wild weather outside and the growing number of nervous bedmates within. Can nothing wake him? Creak! says the bed. . . . With a cumulative series of comical events, this delightful story sends readers barreling toward bedlam.



					Toot Toot Zoom! illustrated by Matthew Cordell Candlewick, 2009 ages 4 to 8, ISBN 978-0763634520 Poor Pierre! He lives all alone at the foot of a mountain, and his heart, how it longs for a friend. Perhaps if he hops in his car—toot, toot, zoom!—he will find a friend on the other side of the mountain! On the road— SCREECH!—he meets Goat, who kindly offers to help. And that, says Pierre, is exactly the sort of thing his friend will do when he finds him! Up, up they zoom, collecting an amiable Sheep and Bear along the way. Will the car make it to the top? Will it get safely down? Will Pierre ever find a friend?



					Paula Bunyan illustrated by Kevin O'Malley Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009 ages 4 to 8, ISBN 978-0374357597 Bounding with oversize visual and verbal humor, here is the previously untold story of Paul Bunyan’s “little” sister, who was as tall as a pine tree, as strong as a dozen moose, and could run so fast that she once ran all the way back to yesterday. As she heads to the North Woods in search of freedom and adventure, Paula uses her brains and brawn to surmount every challenge that comes her way, proving to ferocious animals that she’s their friend and becoming protector of a wild wonderland.



					Flip, Flap, Fly! A Book for Babies Everywhere illustrated by David Walker Candlewick, 2009 ages baby to preschool, ISBN 978-0763631093 Little readers are invited to join these baby animals as they fly, swim, wiggle, and slide, all with the help of their mamas. But what these babies like best, of course, is spotting other baby animals!



					Aunt Nancy and the Bothersome Visitors illustrated by David Parkins Candlewick, 2007 ages 4 to 8, ISBN 978-0763630744 Come on in and stay a spell! Aunt Nancy outwits four unwelcome guests in these trickster tales from a masterful storyteller. It would take a real pesky visitor to make himself unwelcome to Aunt Nancy. But just her luck — not one but FOUR bothersome folks come knocking at her door! From Cousin Lazybones to Old Man Trouble, from doleful Old Woeful to sly, slick Mister Death, Aunt Nancy’s visitors nearly try her patience. But Aunt Nancy’s head isn’t there just to keep her ears from fighting, and see if she doesn’t get the best of all her guests! Here in one volume are Phyllis Root’s irresistible trickster tales, illustrated with David Parkins’s droll silhouettes and full-color paintings.



					Lucia and the Light illustrated by Mary GrandPre Candlewick, 2006 ISBN 978-0-7636-2296-1 In a cozy cabin high in the mountains of the Far North, Lucia and her family live a snug and contented life. But one day the wind screams fiercely and the sun does not rise over the mountain. Someone has stolen the sun! "Perhaps it has lost its way," says Lucia, who despite her mother's pleas sets out to find it with only a bit of bread, a tinderbox, and her milk-white cat to keep her company. In dramatic pastels, Mary GrandPré illuminates troll-pocked frozen mountains and wraps Lucia's family in a blanket of warmth. Inspired by Nordic lore, Phyllis Root spins a golden yarn of courage, love, and the age-old longing for the return of light.



					Who Said Boo? illustrated by Ana Martín Larrañaga Little Simon, 2005 ISBN 978-0-689-85408-8 Someone said boo! But who? Lift the flaps of this silly mystery to find out who's the spookiest character of all!



					The House That Jill Built illustrated by Delphine Durand Candlewick, 2005 ages 4 to 8, ISBN 978-0-7636-1008-1 Flip the flaps, open a fun foldout, and peek inside a final pop-up to find out what happens when Jill’s nursery rhyme friends move in!



					Hop! illustrated by Holly Meade Candlewick, February 2005 ISBN 978-0-7636-1794-3 Baby bunnies bump and bumble. Cottontails take a tumble. Hop and jump with the baby bunnies as they romp on the grass, hide in their hole, and come out again in a bunch, find some clover ... nibble lunch!



					Quack! illustrated by Holly Meade Candlewick, 2005 ISBN 978-0-7636-1793-6 Mama Duck calls quack quack quack! Ducklings hatching crack crack crack! Join these little ducklings as they flip their wings, wobble their tails and follow their mother in a dash, find a puddle, splish splosh splash!



					If You Want to See a Caribou illustrated by Jim Meyer Houghton Mifflin, 2004 ISBN 978-0-618-39314-5 Reading Guide available from Minnesota Storytime If you really want to see a woodland caribou, you might try going to a place forgotten by time. It should be a hushed place, with perhaps rocky green hills and blue water, home to loons and beaver, lichen and yellow buttercups. With every step, this gentle journey brings us to a deeper and more unique connection with nature. Phyllis Root"s mesmerizing text, together with Jim Meyer"s outstanding woodblock prints, makes the very heart of the forest come alive and reveals that if you are patient and quiet, sometimes what you are seeking will, in the end, find you.



					Ten Sleepy Sheep llustrated by Susan Gaber Candlewick Press, 2004 ages 4 to 8, ISBN 978-0-7636-1545-1 One by one ten sheep reluctantly fall asleep in the barnyard.

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