Anne Bowen (1952–) Biography

Born 1952; children: two sons.

Addresses

Agent—c/o Author Mail, Carolrhoda Books, Inc., 241 1st Ave. N., Minneapolis, MN 55401.

Career

School teacher for approximately twenty-five years, including work with hearing-impaired children.

Honors Awards

Utah Language Arts Teacher of the Year, 1996–97.

Writings

I Loved You Before You Were Born, illustrated by Greg Shed, HarperCollins Publishers (New York, NY), 2001.

How Did You Grow So Big, So Soon?, illustrated by Marni Backer, Carolrhoda Books (Minneapolis, MN), 2003.

When You Visit Grandma & Grandpa, illustrated by Tomek Bogacki, Lerner Publishing Group (Minneapolis, MN), 2004.

Tooth Fairy's First Night, illustrated by Jon Berkeley, Carolrhoda Books (Minneapolis, MN), 2005.

Sidelights

A teacher with over two decades of experience, Anne Bowen turned to writing children's books later in life after she became a grandparent. Her stories often offer pictures of the simple joys of living and enjoying young members of the family. For example, her first picture book, I Loved You Before You Were Born, is about a grandmother's eager anticipation of the arrival of a newborn grandchild in a story in which "poetic descriptions … brim with sentimental tenderness," according to a Publishers Weekly reviewer. When You Visit Grandma & Grandpa is a similar story, only this time it is about a child's anticipated visit to her grandparents' home, not about the birth itself. A Publishers Weekly reviewer described the story as a "touching testimony to the deliciousness of anticipation and intergenerational love." Bowen's How Did You Grow So Big, So Soon? is also about an adult's love for a child as she watches the baby grow, but here the tale is told from the mother's viewpoint. More recently, Bowen explored a more fanciful tale with Tooth Fairy's First Night, a "charmer" of a story, according to one Kirkus Reviews contributor, about a tooth fairy who is new to her profession and must overcome some unexpected obstacles.