Symes, Ruth Louise 1962-

PERSONAL:

Born 1962, in England; married Eric Wainwright.

ADDRESSES:

Home—London, England. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Children's book author and editor. Formerly taught children with special needs; former aerobics instructor; worked as an actor. Writing coach for British Broadcasting Corporation; judge for short-story competition.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Carnegie Medal nomination, 1997, for Master of Secrets; Cosmopolitan Women of Achievement Award finalist, 1999; Paws TV Drama Award, 2000, for adaptation of Frankie's Romeo; Sir Peter Ustinov Screenwriting Award runner up, 2001, for The Mum Trap.

WRITINGS:

(Editor, with Trev Lynn) The Governess: An Anthology, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1997.

Play If You Dare, illustrated by Stephen Player, Macdonald Young (Hove, England), 1999.

The Sheep Fairy: When Wishes Have Wings, illustrated by David Sim, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2003.

Floppy Ears, illustrated by Tony Kenyon, Orion (London, England), 2004.

Mondays at Monster School, Orion (London, England), 2005.

Little Tail, Orion (London, England), 2006.

Harriet Dancing, illustrated by Caroline Jayne Church, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2007.

NOVELS

Master of Secrets, Puffin (London, England), 1997.

The Mum Trap (also see below), Andersen (London, England), 2002.

Frankie's Romeo (also see below), Dolphin (London, England), 2002.

OTHER

Also author of children's books The Twelfth-Floor Kids, Chip's Dad, Smelly Sock Soup, and The Sarah Song.

Adapted Frankie's Romeo as a teleplay, produced 2000; adapted The Mum Trap as the teleplay Pizzas, Pimples, and Polly. Author of television scripts for series The Hoobs and PicMe.

SIDELIGHTS:

When growing up in England, being a writer was only one of the many things Ruth Louise Symes wanted to do. "I changed my mind a lot," she explained to an interviewer for the Chicken House Web site, "but mainly I think I wanted to be an actor, singer and teacher but most of all a writer—and I got to do all of those things and am still doing them." In addition to writing books for the very young, Symes has also penned middle-grade and young-adult novels as well as scripts produced on British network television.

In her novel Master of Secrets, Symes describes a teen's experiences when his class engages in an unusual English project. When Raj joins the other students in his class in exchanging anonymous letters, he quickly discovers that the mysterious person writing to him is actually the school bully. Believing himself to be anonymous, the letter writer admits to suffering from abuse at home, and shares his worries about what to do to change his life. Master of Secrets was nominated for the Carnegie Medal in 1997.

Symes moves from a teen readership to a younger audience in The Sheep Fairy: When Wishes Have Wings, a picture book in which Wendy Woolcoat enjoys her life as a sheep, but admits to a fairy that she would love to have the chance to fly. The fairy grants Wendy's wish, and for one night the sheep takes to the skies. The book is "destined to be a champion read-aloud, and a surefire way to give young listeners wings of their own," according to a Kirkus Reviews contributor. A Liverpool Echo reviewer recommended Woolcoat's tale as one "guaranteed to put a smile on any five and under's face." In another picture-book offering, Floppy Ears, Symes introduces a rabbit who, although considered too small, ultimately saves the day when Fox sneaks up on the rabbit's friends. A Liverpool Echo contributor dubbed Floppy Ears "ideal for reading aloud."

Asked by an interviewer from the Word Pool Web site to comment on her career writing for children, Symes explained: "I like the variety—working on a picture book one day, a novel the next, [then] TV and film."

After living in such places as Singapore, Israel, Australia, and New Zealand, Symes came full circle, and now makes her home in London, England, where she grew up.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, October 1, 2003, Lauren Peterson, review of The Sheep Fairy: When Wishes Have Wings, p. 329.

Independent on Sunday (London, England), January 25, 1998, Jonathan Sale, review of The Governess: An Anthology, p. 26.

Journal of Women's History, spring, 2000, Birgitte Soland, review of The Governess, p. 198.

Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 2003, review of The Sheep Fairy, p. 1231; March 15, 2005, review of Floppy Ears, p. 359.

Liverpool Echo (Liverpool, England), review of The Sheep Fairy, p. 22; March 15, 2005, review of Floppy Ears, p. 24.

MBR Bookwatch, June, 2005, Diane C. Conovan, review of Floppy Ears.

Publishers Weekly, November 24, 2003, review of The Sheep Fairy, p. 63.

School Library Journal, December, 2003, Jody McCoy, review of The Sheep Fairy, p. 128.

ONLINE

Chicken House,http://www.doublecluck.com/ (May 18, 2007), interview with Symes.

Ruth Louise Symes Home Page,http://www.ruthsymes.com (May 17, 2007).

Word Pool,http://www.wordpool.co.uk/ (May 17, 2007), interview with Symes.