Willo Davis Roberts (1928-2004) Biography

See index for CA sketch: Born May 29, 1928, in Grand Rapids, MI; died of congestive heart disease November 19, 2004, in Granite Falls, WA. Author. Roberts was an award-winning author best known for her children's mystery novels. A few years after graduating from high school, she married and began to raise a family. After moving to California, she and her husband tried to run a dairy farm with little success. Their financial problems led Roberts to find work at a hospital, and she also began writing to earn extra money. At first, she focused on books for adults, writing mysteries and stories about nurses. Her first novel, Murder at Grand Bay, was published in 1955. More books followed, and by 1970, when she released seven books, she was producing fiction at a prolific rate. In 1975, at the suggestion of her editor and her agent, Roberts rewrote one of her mysteries for a younger audience. It was released as The View from the Cherry Tree (1975) to great success. Publishing ninety-nine books during her lifetime (she was working on rewrites for her hundredth when she passed away), her notable works are Don't Hurt Laurie! (1977); The Girl with the Silver Eyes (1980), which won a Mark Twain award; Eddie and the Fairy Godpuppy (1984); Baby Sitting Is a Dangerous Job (1985), which was another Mark Twain award-winner; Sugar Isn't Everything: A Support Book, in Fiction Form, for the Young Diabetic (1987); and three Edgar Allan Poe Award-winning novels: Megan's Island (1988), The Absolutely True Story of My Visit to Yellowstone with the Terrible Rupes (1994), and Twisted Summer (1996).