Ralph Fletcher

**Ralph Fletcher** (born March 17, 1953) is a writer of children's picture books, young-adult fiction, and poetry as well as books for both children and teachers on the art of writing.

## Biography

Ralph Fletcher grew up in Marshfield, Massachusetts.  He is the oldest of nine children.  Each of his parents were one of eight children.He got his B.A. degree from Dartmouth College in 1975 and his M.F.A degree in writing from Columbia University in 1983.  In college he studied in Tonga in the South Pacific and Sierra Leone, South Africa.  After getting his masters degree, Ralph worked in New York City classrooms as part of the Teacher College writing project.  Fletcher now lives in Lee, New Hampshire.  He is married to JoAnn Portalupi, with her he has written several books for teachers. Together they have four sons.

## Awards

His young adult novel _Uncle Daddy_ won a Christopher Medal in the Books for Young People, ages 10-12 category in 2002.  _Fig Pudding_, a young adult book by Fletcher, was recommended as one of the ten best books of 1995 by the American Library Association.  Fletcher's poetry book _I Am Wings_ was chosen by School Library Journal as one of their best books of 1994.

### Children's picture books

- _Twilight Comes Twice_ - illustrated by Kate Kiesler (1997)
- _Grandpa Never Lies_ - illustrated by Harvey Stevenson (2000)
- _The Circus Surprise_ - illustrated by Vladimir Vagin (2001)
- _Hello, Harvest Moon_ - illustrated by Kate Kiesler (2003)
- _The Sandman_ - illustrated by Richard Cowdrey (2008)

### Poetry books

- _The Magic Nest_ (1980)
- _Water Planet_ (1991)
- _I Am Wings_ (1994)
- _Ordinary Things_ (1997)
- _Buried Alive (book)_ (1998)
- _Room Enough for Love_ (1998) - Compilation of I Am Wings and Buried Alive
- _Relatively Speaking_ (1999)
- _Have You Been to the Beach Lately?_ (2001)
- _A Writing Kind of Day_ (2005)
- _Moving Day (book)_ (2007)

### Memoir

- _Marshfield Dreams: When I Was a Kid_ (2005)

### Young adult books

- _Fig Pudding_ (1995)
- _Spider Boy_ (1997)
- _Flying Solo_ (1998)
- _Tommy Trouble and the Magic Marble_ (2000)
- _Uncle Daddy_ (2001)
- _The One O'Clock Chop_ (2007)

### Books for teachers

- _Walking Trees_ (1991)
- _What a Writer Needs_ (1993)
- _Breathing In, Breathing Out_ (1996)
- _Craft Lessons: Teaching Writing K-8_ (with JoAnn Portalupi) (1998)
- _Nonfiction Craft Lessons_ (with JoAnn Portalupi) (2001)
- _Writing Workshop_ (with JoAnn Portalupi) (2001)
- _Teaching the Qualities of Writing_ with JoAnn Portalupi (2004)
- _Lessons for the Writer's Notebook_ with JoAnn Portalupi (2005)
- _Boy Writers: Reclaiming Their Voices_ (2006)

### Books on writing for children

- _A Writer's Notebook_ (1996)
- _Live Writing_ (1999)
- _How Writers Work_ (2000)
- _Poetry Matters_ (2002)
- _How to Write Your Life Story_ (2007)
- _Reflections: Author at Work_ (2007)

## Related pages

- List of poets from North America

## Other websites

- Ralph Fletcher's website

## Infobox (writer)

- **name**: Ralph Fletcher
- **image**: Ralph Photos.jpg
- **imagesize**: 200px
- **birth name**: Ralph Fletcher
- **birth place**: Marshfield, Massachusetts
- **occupation**: young-adult fiction, young adult novelist, poet, children's book author
- **spouse**: JoAnn Portalupi