Jacqueline K. Ogburn Biography

Education: University of North Carolina, B.A. (English and philosophy); Denver Publishing Institute, degree, 1981.

Addresses

Agent—c/o Author Mail, Houghton Mifflin, 222 Berkeley St., Boston, MA 02116-3764.

Career

William Morrow and Company, New York, NY, worked in sales; Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, New York, NY, managing editor, then editor; Blue Cliff Editions (book packager), managing editor, then associate editor; Aladdin Books, New York, NY, managing editor, then associate editor; Dial Books for Young Readers, New York, NY, managing editor; Carolina Wren Press, president of board of directors.

Writings

The Masked Maverick, illustrated by Nancy Carlson, Lothrop, Lee & Shepard (New York, NY), 1994.

Noise Lullaby, illustrated by John Sanford, Lothrop, Lee & Shepard (New York, NY), 1994.

Scarlett Angelina Wolverton-Manning, illustrated by Brian Ajhar, Dial Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 1994.

The Reptile Ball, illustrated by John O'Brien, Dial Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 1997.

The Jukebox Man, illustrated by James Ransome, Dial Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 1998.

The Magic Nesting Doll, illustrated by Laurel Long, Dial Books (New York, NY), 2000.

(With Laurel Long) The Lady and the Lion, illustrated by Long, Dial Books (New York, NY), 2003.

The Bake Shop Ghost, illustrated by Marjorie Priceman, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2005.

Sidelights

Jacqueline K. Ogburn working as an editor at New York publishing houses for a decade before moving to a new home in North Carolina, raising her children, and beginning a second career as a children's book author. In addition to teaching classes in writing and serving as president of the board of a nonprofit publisher, Ogburn has produced several published books, among them The Reptile Ball, The Bake Shop Ghost, and The Magic Nesting Doll. She also collaborated with author/illustrator Laurel Long to create an updated version of a Brothers Grimm tale, published as The Lady and the Lion. Praising the work in Booklist, a critic wrote that the coauthors' retelling is "smoothly told" and enhanced by Long's dramatic painted illustrations, while in Publishers Weekly a critic cited Ogburn and Long for "streamlin[ing] … the original … and adding a surge of power to the climactic ending."

Also featuring illustrations by Long, The Magic Nesting Doll presents readers with "an outstanding literary fairy tale that effectively captures the drama and splendor of traditional Russian folklore," according to School Library Journal critic Denise Anton Wright. From her deathbed, Katya's grandmother gives the girl a magical Russian nesting doll. However, the dying woman warns her granddaughter that the magic can only be used three times, so she should use it only when it is greatly needed. Katya then sets out into an unusually harsh world of winter and ice, and soon she finds that an evil wizard has taken over the land and turned Russia's handsome tsarvitch into living ice. Katya deems this event worthy of the magical nesting doll and with the help of three magical creatures—a bear, a wolf, and a firebird—she manages to restore the kingdom and defeat the evil wizard.

Gillian Engberg, writing in Booklist, called The Magic Nesting Doll "a romantic, richly illustrated story for children who love traditional fairy tales," while a Publishers Weekly reviewer commented that "Ogburn's assured storytelling memorably joins together classic
[Image Not Available]
fairy-tale elements with Slavic imagery; her tale reads like one already tested by time."

In an interview with Anna Olswanger for Underdown.com, Ogburn explained what first drew her to children's-book editing. Comparing the job to working in adult publishing, she noted that, "Since the advances and the costs are lower in children's books, you're allowed to work in a different time frame. You can be more careful about choosing what you're doing. You can edit out of love. You're not swept away with whatever is the hot topic of the season because you're publishing for a group—children—who are dealing with large issues of growing up. Those issues can cover a lot of ground. They're not necessarily tied to trends."