JOY
N. HULME, CHILDREN'S BOOK AUTHOR
Children’s book author, Joy N. Hulme describes
herself as “a grandma with the heart of
a child.” She was born and reared in Cottonwood,
Utah, a rural area at the foot of Mount Olympus
south of Salt Lake City. She was rich in all the
things a child needs: loving parents, siblings
and cousins to play with, woods to wander in,
Grandpa’s next-door farm fields to explore,
orchard trees to climb for fresh-fruit snacks,
rocks and logs to build with, adobe bricks to
melt for sculpting clay, a huge lawn for tumbling,
and.a wonderful oversize dad-built backyard playground
with a swing, slide, glider, sand box and playhouse.
She
graduated from USAC (now Utah State University)
as an Education major specializing in art,
biology and speech and has been a perpetual
student and craftsman ever since. Still in
love with nature, Joy lives in Monte Sereno,
California and her hillside home is surrounded
by an acre of trees, lawns, and flower and
vegetable gardens. From the study where she
writes she can watch frisky squirrels running
high-wire races along the electric lines, Monarch
butterflies migrating to and from their winter
homes, rainbows making all-is-well promises
and trees glowing with seasonal color changes.
Two living children and twenty-three grandchildren
each receive a copy of her books the year they
are published.
Joy
earned the status of author with the publication
of her first book, A
Stable in Bethlehem in 1989. Having
described herself as “a part-time
everything and a full-time nothing,” she
now finds her many interests and her child-like
fascination with the ingenious intricacy
and beauty of nature are valuable assets
for a writer of children’s
books. In 2007 she will have 19 books published,
with at least half a dozen under consideration
or in various stages of completion. She writes
rhyming picture books, how to write, historical
novels, pop-ups, math/science concept books,
and learn-to-read books. All of Joy’s
books have found their way into classrooms
across the country as supplementary reading
in math, science, language or social studies.
She
says: “No life is long enough to run
out of fresh surprises if we watch for them.
I like to be accurate about facts, fanciful
about fiction and to combine truth and imagination.
It is always my goal to encourage the creative
awareness that is inborn in youngsters and
to keep it alive in them forever. I want
to make learning as much fun for others as
it has always been for me by creating in
a light-hearted manner. It is my aim that
a child of any age can become a little better
in some way as a result of reading what I
have written.”.
The
publication of Stable
in Bethlehem gives a second
life to her first published book in 1989. The
words are the same but the vibrant illustrations
by Dan Andreasen and the publisher (Sterling)
are different this time. Check this out for a
gift to “Open-and-read-on Christmas Eve.” |