Bethany Roberts

Bethany Roberts (born September 6, 1949) is a Connecticut children's author, known for her series of picture books informally marketed as Holiday Mice.
==Life and career==
Roberts was a graduate of Lyman Hall High School in Wallingford and Southern Connecticut State University, and was a teacher and children's librarian before her writing career began. From the mid-1990s onward, she was living in Hamden with her husband Robert Beverage and two daughters, and also taught children's literature at the Naugatuck Valley Community College in Waterbury.
Roberts aspired to become a writer from the age of six, and wrote her first stories—whose main character was a rabbit—at age eight; she was also a "neighborhood storyteller" and "a bit of a[n outdoors] tomboy" while growing up. Her first book, Waiting-for-Spring Stories, came out in 1984. From the mid-1990s till mid-2000s, she and illustrator Doug Cushman collaborated on the informally named Holiday Mice picture-book series, which featured the title family of four—two children plus their mother and father.
As an animal lover, Roberts included animal characters in many of her works, stating that they were "multicultural", highly relatable, and flexible in their use. "Many of [her] story ideas," according to Gale's Something About the Author, "are generated from words that 'sound right' together, while others [like The Wind's Garden] are inspired by her own experiences or by research."
==Accolades==
In 2001, Roberts' Gramps and the Fire Dragon was honored as a Children's Choice selection by the International Reading Association and Children's Book Council.
== Bibliography==
Source (unless otherwise noted):
===Waiting-for Series===
* Waiting-for-Spring Stories (1984; ill. William Joyce; Harper & Row)
* Waiting-for-Papa Stories (1990; ill. Sarah Stapler; Harper & Row)
* Waiting-for-Christmas Stories (1994; ill. Sarah Stapler; Clarion)
===Holiday Mice===
(Illustrated by Doug Cushman; Clarion)
* Halloween Mice! (1995)
* Valentine Mice! (1997)
* Christmas Mice! (2000)
* Thanksgiving Mice! (2001)
* Birthday Mice! (2002)
* Easter Mice! (2003)
* Fourth of July Mice! (2004)
===With Patricia Hubbell===
* Camel Caravan (1996; ill. Cheryl Munro Taylor; Tambourine)
* Eleven Elephants Growing Up! (1996; ill. Minh Uong; Whispering Coyote Press)
===Illustrated by Diane Greenseid===
(Published by Clarion)
* Cat Parade (1996)
* Follow Me! (1998)
===Illustrated by Marsha Winborn===
(Published by Dutton)
* May Belle and the Ogre (2003)
* Ogre Eats Everything (2005)
===Other works===
* The Two O'Clock Secret (1992; ill. Robin Kramer; Albert Whitman)
* Monster Manners (1996; ill. Andrew Glass; Clarion)
* A Mouse Told His Mother (1997; ill. Maryjane Begin; Little, Brown)
* Gramps and the Fire Dragon (2000; ill. Melissa Iwai; Clarion)
* The Wind's Garden (2001; ill. Melanie Hope Greenberg; Henry Holt)
* Rosie to the Rescue (2003; ill. Kay Chorao; Henry Holt)
* Cat Skidoo (2004; ill. R.W. Alley; Henry Holt)
* Cookie Angel (2007; ill. Vladimir Vagin; Henry Holt)
* Double Trouble Groundhog Day (2008; ill. Lorinda Bryan Cauley; Henry Holt)
Category:1949 births
Category:People from Wallingford, Connecticut
Category:Southern Connecticut State University alumni
Category:Children's writers