Andrea Perry

Background

Andrea Perry was born on September 10, 1956, in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. She is the daughter of William and Patricia Fitz. As a child, Perry's mother introduced her to the works of Dr. Seuss, which contributed to her love of rhyme and verse.

Education

Andrea graduated from Carlow College (present-day Carlow University) with a Bachelor of Arts in 1979. In 1980 she got a Master of Education from the University of Pittsburgh.

Career

Though Andrea Perry never planned to become a writer, she experimented with poetry throughout her life. She began writing in earnest while raising her toddlers. After winning a few local poetry contests, Perry took a course in children's writing at the suggestion of her mother.

Perry published her first book, Here's What You Do When You Can't Find Your Shoe: Ingenious Inventions for Pesky Problems in 2003. This is a book with many poems about ingenious inventions for pesky problems. These inventions are silly and fun. Each poem is about a different invention including the sure-footed shoe finder, maxi umbrellas, and the acme super spider spotter.

Her second book Stink Stoppers! (2003) is a rhyming collection of uninvented inventions that contains the answers to all of life's peculiar problems.

In 2007 The Snack Smasher: And Other Reasons Why It's Not My Fault was published. In this book, Perry offers a rogues' gallery of scoundrels who have mastered the art of annoying and antagonizing children. The "Scary-Hair Fairy," for example, always strikes just before Picture Day at school, and youngsters who find themselves just short of completing their latest jigsaw puzzle masterpiece have the "Puzzle-Piece Eater" to blame. Nasty spills are certainly the work of the "Cap-Napper and Lid Lifter," and the "Dastardly Snack Smasher" loves to crumble tasty treats while leaving liver and spinach intact.

Perry's recent book Rise (2016) is poetry that maintains a fierce and unflinching hope in the midst of the world's fracture and dislocation. It looks fixedly at social, political, and environmental violence, but never falters in its insistence that other ways of being are possible, that moments of true relation and wholeness might be found, even if only in unexpected ways. It moves frequently by drawing connections between apparently disjointed images and opposed ideas, provoking a surprising sense of unity among what appears to be scattered and disparate elements. In this way, it speaks intimately to the complexities of living with both conscience and hope in the world today.

Achievements

• Andrea Perry is a prolific author of books for children, a pair of well-received works of poetry. Her books received positive acclaims from critics.
  
  

Works

More photos

• book

  • Rise

    (Andrea Perry's Rise is poetry that maintains a fierce and...)

    2016
  • Here's What You Do When You Can't Find Your Shoe: Ingenious Inventions for Pesky Problems

    (Do spiders make you squirm? Stop turning down picnic invi...)

    2003
  • The Bicklebys' Birdbath

    (The Bicklebys' yard is in chaos. There's a moose running ...)

    2010
  • Stink Stoppers! 2003
  • The Snack Smasher: And Other Reasons Why It's Not My Fault 2007

Membership

Andrea is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

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  Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators , United States

Interests

• Writers

  Dr. Seuss, Kurt Vonnegut, Kevin Connolly

Connections

Andrea married Dennis Perry on April 25, 1986. The couple has two children: Jordan Alexis and Dean Christian.

Father:

William Fitz

Mother:

Patricia Fitz

husband:

Dennis Perry

Son:

Jordan Alexis Perry

Son:

Dean Christian Perry