Halls, Kelly Milner 1957-

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Halls, Kelly Milner 1957-

(Kelly Milner)

PERSONAL:

Born December 6, 1957, in Amarillo, TX; daughter of Gene and Georgia Milner; divorced; children: Kerry, Vanessa. Education: Attended Brigham Young University. Politics: Democrat. Religion: "Do no harm." Hobbies and other interests: Tennis, skiing, painting, paleontology, animals, free speech and anti-censorship efforts.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Spokane, WA. Agent—Ken Wright, Writers House, 21 W. 26th St., New York, NY 10010. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Author and freelance journalist. Book Report/Kids Reads, former executive editor. Personal assistant to author Chris Crutcher.

MEMBER:

Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, American Library Association, Young Adult Library Services Association, Freedom to Read Foundation, National Coalition Against Censorship.

AWARDS, HONORS:

American Bookseller "Pick of the List" science book, 1995, for Dino-Trekking: The Ultimate Dinosaur Lover's Travel Guide; Highlights Award for best science feature, 1995; Top Ten Science Books designation, Booklist, 2003, for Dinosaur Mummies; Benjamin Franklin Award, 2005, for Albino Animals, and 2006, for Wild Dogs: Past and Present; Conservation Book of the Year, 2005, for Wild Dogs: Past and Present; Children's Choice Award, 2006, for Wild Dogs: Past and Present.

WRITINGS:

Dino-Trekking: The Ultimate Dinosaur Lover's Travel Guide, illustrated by Rick Spears, Wiley (New York, NY), 1996.

Baby Chick, Boyds Mills Press (Honesdale, PA), 1999.

Kids Go! Denver: A Fun-Filled, Fact-Packed Travel and Activity Book, John Muir Publications (Santa Fe, NM), 1999.

(With others) 365 Outdoor Activities, illustrated by Anne Kennedy, Publications International (Lincolnwood, IL), 2000.

I Bought a Baby Chicken, illustrated by Karen Stormer Brooks, Boyds Mills Press (Honesdale, PA), 2000.

(With others) School Projects for Pennies, illustrated by George Ulrich, Publications International (Lincolnwood, IL), 2001.

(With others) 365 Things To Do on a Saturday, illustrated by George Ulrich, Publications International (Lincolnwood, IL), 2001.

Look What You Can Make with Craft Sticks: Over 80 Pictured Crafts and Dozens of Other Ideas, Boyds Mills Press (Honesdale, PA), 2002.

Look What You Can Make with Plastic-Foam Trays: Over 90 Pictured Crafts and Dozens of Other Ideas, Boyds Mills Press (Honesdale, PA), 2003.

Dinosaur Mummies: Beyond Bare-Bone Fossils, illustrated by Rick Spears, Darby Creek Publishing. (Plain City, OH), 2003.

Albino Animals, Darby Creek Publishing (Plain City, OH), 2004.

Wild Dogs: Past and Present, Darby Creek Publishing (Plain City, OH), 2005.

The Random House Dinosaur Travel Guide, illustrated by Luis V. Rey, Random House (New York, NY), 2006.

(With others) Tales of the Cryptids: Mysterious Creatures That May or May Not Exist, illustrated by Rick Spears, Darby Creek Publishing (Plain City, OH), 2006.

Mysteries of the Mummy Kids, Darby Creek Publishing (Plain City, OH), 2007.

Cells and Systems ("Science Fair Projects" series), Heinemann Library (Chicago, IL), 2007.

Forces and Motion ("Science Fair Projects" series), Heinemann Library (Chicago, IL), 2007.

Astronomy and Space ("Science Fair Projects" series), Heinemann Library (Chicago, IL), 2007.

Rocks and Minerals ("Science Fair Projects" series), Heinemann Library (Chicago, IL), 2007.

Contributor to Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market, edited by Alice Pope, F&W Publications (Cincinnati, OH) 1997-2008; Stress Fractures, edited by Terry Trueman, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2003; Essential Guide to Children's Books and Their Creators, edited by Anita Silvey, 2003; and The Continuum Encyclopedia of Young Adult Literature, edited by Bernice Cullinan and Bonnie Kunzel, revised edition, 2004. Contributor to periodicals, including Teen People, Writer's Digest, Highlights for Children, Guidepost for Kids, Guidepost for Teens, Parenting Teens, Boy's Life, Fox Kids, Booklist, Book Magazine, Book Links, Dinosaurus, Kid City, Child Life, Humpty Dumpty, Children' Digest, Voice of Youth Advocates, Family Fun, U.S. Kids, Child Life, Dig, Ask, Hullabaloo, New Jersey Monthly, Wyoming, Chicago Tribune, Denver Post, Washington Post, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and Jurassic Park Institute. Contributing editor, Dino Times, Dinosaurus, and Archaeology's Dig.

SIDELIGHTS:

Kelly Milner Halls is the author of both fiction and nonfiction books for children and a frequent contributor to periodicals for and about children. One of her early, and favorite, books is I Bought a Baby Chicken, which was inspired by a baby chick given to her oldest daughter when she suffered a severe case of chicken pox while in the second grade. The family built a coop and filled it with chicks. By the time Kerry began third grade, their coop contained more than two dozen fully-grown chickens. The book for young children is a counting book, in which a little girl and her family buy baby chicks at the general store. As in real life, other members of the family add to the total until there are more than fifty head. A Publishers Weekly contributor wrote: "This country tale is chipper and sunny from beginning to end."

Halls is coauthor of a number of craft books for children, including Look What You Can Make with Craft Sticks: Over 80 Pictured Crafts and Dozens of Other Ideas. The sticks of the title are craft sticks, but also tongue depressors and ice cream sticks, all of which are part of projects that incorporate glue, paint, paper, fabric, and odds and ends to create games, toys, doll furniture, and decorative items. Other projects involve the making of boxes, signs, mobiles, and other unusual items from newspaper, using papier-mache techniques. This theme continues with Look What You Can Make with Plastic-Foam Trays: Over 90 Pictured Crafts and Dozens of Other Ideas, in which projects ranging from quite easy to more difficult utilize the common plastic foam tray, glue, markers, paint, glitter, and other craft items. Projects include a macaroni collage and a mosaic sailboat. School Library Journal reviewer Genevieve Gallagher was impressed with the book, "both for its craft ideas and its environmentally friendly use for those foam trays."

In Dinosaur Mummies: Beyond Bare-Bone Fossils, Halls goes beyond the study of dinosaur bones and includes feathers and the "skin, hearts, and muscles and goop-filled stomachs." She concentrates on six finds and includes cartoons along with actual photographs. A Kirkus Reviews contributor commented that "young dinosaur fans will latch onto this heavily illustrated report like starving velociraptors at a picnic."

In Albino Animals, Milner covers albinism among mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and humans. She considers albinos to be "beautiful examples of nature's diversity." She notes that their stark whiteness makes them more easily identified in the wild by predators and that their skin and eyes are particularly sensitive to the sun. Because of these challenges, albinos must often make serious adjustments in their behavior to survive. In reviewing Albino Animals in Booklist, Gillian Engberg wrote: "The wild facts and eye-popping visuals will encourage children to learn more about the underlying basic science."

The ancestors of the contemporary dog are studied in Wild Dogs: Past and Present, with explanations of how fossils and DNA determine what dog ancestors looked like. Halls includes a variety of sidebars, charts, and maps, notes how conservation and the reintroduction of species can impact other species, and concludes with an overview of today's domesticated dogs. Susan Oliver wrote in Children's Review: "Halls conveys complex scientific information as she explains why some species die out while others survive and evolve."

Halls once commented: "Though I work full-time as a freelance writer, I am fast becoming a YA literature advocate, determined to broaden the reach of these outstanding coming-of-age stories and authors."

Halls once told CA: "I had a teacher in third grade tell me I was a good writer, that I should consider being a writer when I grew up. I was intrigued and realized as a journalism student in high school that might actually be possible. Reporters like Linda Ellerbee inspired me to study journalism in college. My children inspired me to write nonfiction for young readers.

"My writing process for young readers is no different than my process for adult readers. I hold my work for children to the same three-source standard I use for any adult publication. If anyone deserves accuracy, it's children.

"The most surprising thing I've learned is that when I say I get paid for being weird, they all think they are weird, as individuals. Every kid feels a little uneasy in their skin, and my owning my ‘weird’ seems to help them learn to herald it too. I've had the most positive response from kids and adults on Albino Animals, and I love that book too. But Tales of the Cryptids was also great fun to write and research.

"I was a reluctant reader in school. I only read books about vampires, reptiles, and Abraham Lincoln for the longest time. So I write the books I would have liked to find when I was a kid. I hope my books will help inspire reluctant readers to explore new worlds in books—not just mine, but across the board. I hope they'll help kids find a sense of connection, to know they are never truly alone in this universe. I hope they learn to wear their weird with pride, like I do."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, April 1, 2000, Lauren Peterson, review of I Bought a Baby Chicken, p. 1468; June 1, 2004, Gillian Engberg, review of Albino Animals, p. 1722; December 1, 2005, Gillian Engberg, review of Wild Dogs: Past and Present, p. 59.

Children's Digest, January-February, 2006, Tyler Zipes, review of Dinosaur Mummies: Beyond Bare-Bone Fossils, p. 14.

Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2003, review of Dinosaur Mummies, p. 1017.

Publishers Weekly, January 17, 2000, review of I Bought a Baby Chicken, p. 55.

School Library Journal, July, 2000, Karen James, review of I Bought a Baby Chicken, p. 79; April, 2002, Lynda Ritterman, review of Look What You Can Make with Craft Sticks: Over 80 Pictured Crafts and Dozens of Other Ideas, p. 132; February, 2003, Genevieve Gallagher, review of Look What You Can Make with Plastic-Foam Trays: Over 90 Pictured Crafts and Dozens of Other Ideas, p. 131; December, 2003, Steven Engelfried, review of Dinosaur Mummies, p. 168; August, 2004, Jenna Miller, review of Albino Animals, p. 137; November, 2005, Susan Oliver, review of Wild Dogs, p. 160.

Teacher Librarian, February, 2005, Teri Lesesne, "Wild Dogs, Dinosaurs, and Baby Chicks: An Interview with Kelly Milner Halls," p. 46.