Petty, Kate 1951-2007

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born June 9, 1951, in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England; died May 22, 2007. Editor and author. Known for her highly creative children's books aimed at teaching subjects such as grammar and astronomy, Petty was also a popular author of fiction for children and teenagers. After attending York University, she began a career in publishing when she joined the publisher Jonathan Cape. Seeing a greater need for simple, educational books for young people, she published her first, Space Shuttle (1984), through Franklin Watts. This was the first of many books about space and astronomy, but she later branched out into subjects ranging from zoology and transportation to biography and grammar. She received high praise from educators for her books about the English language, such as The Great Grammar Book (1996) and Perfect Pop-Up Punctuation (2006), which use visual cues and humor to impart language lessons. Also in the 1980s she began writing fiction for small children that addressed simple topics, such as What's That Number? (1986) and Going to the Doctor (1987). More recently she began writing the "Girls Like You" fiction series for teens that includes titles such as Summer Heat (2004) and Summer Cool (2005). She was made head of children's book publishing for the Eden Project in 2005, and that year also won the Royal Society/Aventis General Prize for her book The Global Garden.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Times (London, England), June 11, 2007, p. 56.