McCAIN, Becky Ray 1954-

PERSONAL: Born May 8, 1954, in Brooksville, FL; daughter of Carl Ray (a Presbyterian minister) and Jackie (an artist and legal assistant; maiden name, Lowman) McCain; married James Russell MacKoy, April 11, 1981 (divorced April 16, 1993); children: Kimberly Allyne, James Richard, Emma Ray. Education: Tarkio College, B.A. (psychology, special education, elementary education). Politics: "Rational." Religion: "Simple." Hobbies and other interests: Sketching, roller skating, biking, operating heavy equipment, singing, making jewelry, reading.

ADDRESSES: Home—10871 West Dartmouth Ave., Lakewood, CO 80227. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Cherry Creek Schools, special education teacher, 1998—. Colorado Center for the Book, member, 2002-03.

MEMBER: National Organization for Year-Round Education.

WRITINGS:

(With Stephen B. McCarney) Behavior Dimensions Intervention Manual, Hawthorne Educational Services (Columbia, MO), 1995.

The Hide-out Lizard, Hawthorne Educational Services (Columbia, MO), 1995.

Grandmother's Dreamcatcher, illustrated by Stacey Schuett, A. Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 1998.

Nobody Knew What to Do: A Story about Bullying, illustrated by Todd Leonardo, A. Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 2001.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A novel; research on Native American stories and traditions; research on current topics in education and psychology.

SIDELIGHTS: Becky Ray McCain is both an author and a teacher. Her books reflect her concern for children. In Nobody Knew What to Do: A Story about Bullying it is not the children in the story who resolve the problem when bullies begin to pick on a boy named Ray, but rather it is the adults who end the situation. However, the bullying is reported by a concerned fellow student who becomes uncomfortable about what is going on in his school. Critics praised Nobody Knew What to Do as a more realistic tale about bullying than others having a taunted boy or girl vanquish bullies using unusual wit or skill. The book also includes a section for adults called "Bully Prevention" to aid in class discussions. Overall, critics thought the book would be helpful to students and teachers alike. For example, Carolyn Phelan, who called McCain's book "sobering," wrote in Booklist that "as our society grapples with the relationship between bullying and school violence, teachers will be looking for picture books [like this] to spark discussion." "McCain successfully presents a problem without sentimentalizing or sensationalizing it," concluded School Library Journal reviewer Teri Markson.

McCain told CA: "Two conceptually accurate (yet paraphrased) thoughts have been pivotal to me: the first, that a society is judged by how well it (we) cares for the weakest among us; and the concept or perception of our youth as our future. With a preacher for a dad, I was (likely) genetically and environmentally programmed to care about educational and mental health issues. My dad definitely influenced me to be as sensitive to the needs of others as I can be. This references a style of living that defies class structure and 'thinking in the box.' I don't think I even own a box, much less a proverbial one!

"My father and my other heroes teach me still about what it means to be alive. It means, simply, to care too much about our children, and the children of parents in other cultures, to ignore their basic needs, which include needs for nurturing, for education. It's the only real savings account we have toward a happy future."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, October 1, 1998, Carolyn Phelan, review of Grandmother's Dreamcatcher, p. 336; May 15, 2001, Carolyn Phelan, review of Nobody Knew What to Do: A Story about Bullying, p. 1760.

Publishers Weekly, October 5, 1998, review of Grandmother's Dreamcatcher, p. 89; April 16, 2001, review of Grandmother's Dreamcatcher, p. 67.

School Library Journal, May, 2001, Teri Markson, review of Nobody Knew What to Do, p. 128.