Marion Dane Bauer

Marion Dane Bauer (born November 20, 1938) is an American children's author.
Bauer was born on November 20, 1938, and brought up in Oglesby, a small prairie town in Northern Illinois. She was educated at LaSalle-Peru-Oglesby Junior College, the University of Missouri and the University of Oklahoma, where she graduated in 1962. She married Ronald Bauer, raising their two children as well as being a foster parent for other children. That marriage ended in divorce after 28 years. She has taught English at a Wisconsin high school and classes in creative writing in Minnesota. Marion was one of the founders of the Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She lives and works in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Marion wanted to be a writer from an early age. As a child, she says, "I constantly made [stories] up in my head, for my dolls, for my friends. I acted them out using my cigar box filled with marbles as characters." An aunt gave her vital encouragement during her teenage years, by taking her work seriously and urging her to continue writing. Bauer recalls that "the example of someone who loved writing and found doing it both good and important, probably influenced me more deeply than any other."
Recognition
Rain of Fire (1983) won the Jane Addams Children's Book Award in 1984. On My Honor (1986) was a Newbery Honor Book in 1987 and won the William Allen White Children's Book Award in 1989. Am I Blue, an anthology of children's fiction about gay and lesbian issues, won a Lambda Literary Award in 1994, and the Stonewall Book Award for literature in 1995. Bauer received the Kerlan Award in 1996. The Longest Night (2009) won a 2010 Golden Kite Award for picture-book text.
Books
Shelter from the Wind, 1976
Foster Child, 1977
Tangled Butterfly, 1980
Rain of Fire, 1983
Like Mother, Like Daughter, 1985
On My Honor (Newbery Medal Winner), 1986
Touch the Moon, 1987
A Dream of Queens and Castles, 1990
Face to Face, 1991
What's Your Story?: a young person's guide to writing fiction, 1992
Ghost Eye, 1992
A Taste of Smoke, 1993
(ed.) Am I Blue?: coming out from the silence, 1994
A Question of Trust, 1994
A Writer's Story: from life to fiction, 1995
When I Go Camping with Grandma, 1995
If You Were Born a Kitten, 1997
Alison's Wings, 1997
Alison's Puppy, 1997
Alison's Fierce and Ugly Halloween, 1997
Turtle Dreams, 1997
Christmas in the Forest, 1998
Bear's Hiccups, 1998
An Early Winter, 1999
Sleep, Little One, Sleep, 1999
The Double Digit Club, 2000
Grandmother's Song, 2000
Jason's Bears, 2000
My Mother is Mine, 2001
If you Had a Nose Like an Elephant's Trunk, 2001
Runt, 2002
The Kissing Monster, 2002
Uh-Oh!, 2002
Frog's Best Friend, 2002
Love Song for a Baby, 2002
Land of the Buffalo Bones: the diary of Mary Ann Elizabeth Rodgers, an English girl in Minnesota, 2003. In the Dear America series.
Snow, 2003
Wind, 2003
Why Do Kittens Purr?, 2003
Toes, Ears & Nose! 2003
The Double-Digit Club, 2004
The Very Best Daddy of All, 2004
A Mama for Owen, 2004
Clouds, 2004
Rain, 2004
A Bear Named Trouble, 2005
The Blue Ghost, 2005
Easter is Coming, 2005
A Recipe for Valentine's Day, 2005
Waiting for Christmas, 2005
If Frogs Made Weather, 2005
Niagara Falls, 2006
The Rocky Mountains, 2006
The Grand Canyon, 2006
Christmas Lights, 2006
I'm Not Afraid of Halloween!, 2006
The Statue of Liberty, 2007
Mount Rushmore, 2007
The Mighty Mississippi, 2007
The Secret of the Painted House, 2007
Killing Miss Kitty and Other Sins, 2007
Baby Bear Discovers the World, 2007
A Mama for Owen, 2007
The Red Ghost, 2008
The Green Ghost, 2008
Some Babies Are Wild, 2008
Yellowstone, 2008
Volcano!, 2008
Flood!, 2008
Earthquake!, 2009
The Very Little Princess, 2009
The Christmas Baby, 2009
Martin Luther King, Jr. - My First Biography, 2009
The Longest Night, 2009
One Brown Bunny, 2009
How Do I Love You?, 2009
Cutest Critter, 2010
Christopher Columbus - My First Biography, 2010
Harriet Tubman - My First Biography, 2010
Thank You for Me!, 2010
The Longest Night, 2011
In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb, 2011
Benjamin Franklin - My First Biography, 2011
The Golden Ghost, 2011
The Very Little Princess - Rose's Story, 2011
The Very Little Princess - Zoey's Story, 2011
Dinosaur Thunder, 2012
Halloween Forest, 2012
Little Dog, Lost, 2012
Celebrating Arizona, 2013
Celebrating Texas, 2013
Celebrating New York, 2013
Celebrating Florida, 2013
Celebrating California, 2013
Celebrating Virginia and Washington, D.C., 2013
Celebrating North Carolina, 2014
Celebrating Washington State, 2014
Celebrating Massachusetts, 2014
Celebrating Illinois, 2014
Crinkle, Crackle, Crack, It's Spring, 2015
Little Cat's Luck, 2016
Sun, 2016
Rainbow, 2016
Winter Dance, 2017
Jump Little Wood Ducks, 2017
The Stuff of Stars, 2018
The Appalachian Trail, 2020
Sunshine, 2021
Moon - Our Universe Series, 2021
Mars - Our Universe Series, 2021
Earth - Our Universe Series, 2021
References
Additional Sources
External links
Marion Dane Bauer's website
1938 births
Living people
American children's writers
Writers from Illinois
People from Oglesby, Illinois
American lesbian writers
Lambda Literary Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature winners
Stonewall Book Award winners
American women children's writers
University of Missouri alumni
University of Oklahoma alumni
21st-century American women writers