Ellen Meara Dolan

Background

Mrs. Dolan was born in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, on January 9, 1929. She was a daughter of John J. (an engineer) and Helen (Kelleher) Meara.

Education

Ellen Dolan graduated from St. Louis University with Bachelor of Arts degree.

Career

She worked as a substitute teacher at grade school and high school. Later she held the post of a director of a Pre-school for fifteen years. During the period of 1983-1993 Mrs. Dolan was appointed director of Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) program, St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

Ellen Dolan is an author of a series of Native American tales published in 1987, including Why the Loon Calls, The Coming of the Sun, The Leaves of Autumn, and The Robin’s Red Breast; author of student workbooks published in 1988, including Sequencing, K-l; Following Directions, K-l; Elements of English, Intermediate 5-6; Elements of English, Advanced 5-6, and Building Comprehension (two each for grades 4-9); contributor of articles and stories to periodicals, including Cobblestone, Teacher, Instructor, and Teen. The Republic of Ireland has been published in England, Greece, and Italy.

Now Mrs. Dolan is a homemaker, teacher, and writer.

Achievements

• Ellen M. Dolan has written over sixty books for young people, ranging from workbooks and teachers’ guides to biographies and retellings of folktales. YALSA recommended books for reluctant young adult readers citation.

Works

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  • Susan Butcher and the Iditarod Trail

    (Describes the annual dog sled race from Anchorage to Nome...)

  • Jack and the Beanstalk (Milliken's Children's Classics)

    (A boy climbs to the top of a giant beanstalk where he use...)

  • The ugly duckling (Milliken's children's classics)

    (An ugly duckling spends an unhappy year ostracized by the...)

  • Drakestail: A French Folk Tale (Milliken's Children's Classics)

    (The adventures of a drake who becomes a king with the hel...)

  • Little Red Riding Hood (Milliken's children's classics)

    (A little girl meets a hungry wolf in the forest while on ...)

  • The Snow Queen

    (This wintry tale has warmed the hearts of children around...)

  • Casey at the Bat

    (“A home-run effort.” —Publisher’s Weekly Patricia Polacco...)

  • Nefrou, The Scribe (Children of other times)
  • Einar, the Viking (Children of other times)
  • Sandro the Painter (Children's of Other Times)

Membership

• Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators , United States

• Children’s Reading Roundtable of Chicago , United States

Interests

• music, both classical and pop music

• Writers

  Rumer Godden

Connections

Ellen Dolan married Robert Emmett Dolan, an advertising account manager, in 1950. Theu have four children: Susan, Percy, Robert Jr., Ann.

Father:

John J. Meara

Mother:

Helen (Kelleher) Meara

husband:

Robert Emmett Dolan

Daughter:

Susan Dolan

Son:

Percy Dolan

Son:

Robert Dolan Jr.

Daughter:

Ann Dolan