Marilyn Singer

Marilyn Singer was born in New York City and raised on Long Island. She studied English at City University of New York and Communications at New York University.

In 1974, after teaching English in New York City high schools for several years, Singer began writing teacher's guides and film strips. Then, one day, when she was sitting in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, she wrote a story featuring talking insect characters she'd made up when she was eight. Encouraged by the responses she got, she wrote more stories, and in 1976, her first book, The Dog Who Insisted He Wasn't, was published.

Since then, Marilyn has published over eighty books for children and young adults. Her genres are many and varied, including realistic novels, fantasies, non-fiction, fairy tales, picture books, mysteries, and poetry. She likes writing different kinds of books because it's challenging and it keeps her from getting bored. She has won many awards for her writing: Eggs and First Food Fight This Fall, Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best, 2009; Venom, Orbis Pictus Honor Book, 2008; New York Public Library's One Hundred Best Titles for Reading and Sharing, 2007; City Lullaby, Time Magazine's Top Ten Children's Books, 2007; What Stinks?, NSTA-CBC Outstanding Science Trade Book, 2007; Science Books & Film Best Trade Books, 2006; Central Heating, ALSC Notable Book, 2005; Creature Carnival, Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award Honor Book, 2005; Tough Beginnings: How Baby Animals Survive, NSTA-CBA Outstanding Science Trade Book, 2002; Society of School Librarians International Best Book for Science, 2001; Believe in Water: Twelve Brushes with Religion, New York Public Library's "Best Books for the Teen Age," 2001.

Singer lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her husband Steve and lots of animals: their standard poodle, a cat, two collared doves, and a starling named Darling. She enjoys ballroom/Latin dancing, dog training, reading, hiking, bird-watching, gardening, playing computer adventure games, and going to the movies and the theatre. She's also a major Star Trek fan.

(Adapted from material on Singer's website.)

Books by This Author

A Strange Place to Call Home

Illustrated by: Ed Young
Age Level: 6-9

Textured collage and paint illustration and various poetic forms are used to introduce creatures that live in difficult, dangerous places. Ice worms in "Frozen Solid," for example, "…If lurking in the deepest seas,/Why not between the glacial ice,/helped by their own antifreeze?"

City Lullaby

Illustration of city traffic
Illustrated by: Carll Cneut
Age Level: 0-3, 3-6

From "10 horns beeping" to "2 bikes growling" a baby sleeps on. But when "… 1 bird begins to twitter," a smiling baby awakens! City sounds and sights abound in stylized illustrations and satisfying, rhythmic language of this cumulative rhyme.

Eggs

Illustrated by: Emma Stevenson
Age Level: 6-9

What is "…a quiet crib, …a bobbing boat, …breakfast, lunch and dinner"? An egg, of course. Many types of eggs from insects, reptiles, and even mammals, in various environments are introduced in crisp text and clear illustration in this handsome, informative book.

Follow Follow: A Book of Reverso Poems

Illustrated by: Josee Masse
Age Level: 6-9

The original form of poetry (introduced in Mirror Mirror) is again used to present different perspectives on the same topic. Characters large and small — from the Emperor in a birthday suit to tiny Thumbelina — a clever form and lush illustrations bring well known characters into focus.

I'm Getting a Check-up

Illustrated by: David Milgrim
Age Level: 3-6

Three children visit their doctors for a routine check-up, chronicled in rhyme. Additional information about the special tools used and the procedures is provided in bold print on each uncluttered page to inform, clarify, and calm fears.

I'm Your Bus

Illustration of a school bus
Illustrated by: Evan Polenghi
Age Level: 3-6

A bright yellow bus picks up and delivers its passengers to their school in this rollicking rhyming picture book. Anyone who has ever been on a school bus is sure to appreciate the humor in both text and illustration.

Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse

Illustrated by: Josee Masse
Age Level: 6-9

Everyone knows that there are two sides to every story. Read a cleverly illustrated poem one way for one side; read the same poem in reverse and learn the other. Well known fairy tales are presented through reversible poems sure to intrigue sophisticated readers of all ages. Each book comes with a CD, so pop it in and follow along!

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