Background

Sara Hoagland Hunter was born on March 28, 1954, in Dover, Massachusetts, United States. She is the daughter of John H. and Sara R. Hoagland.

When a child, she was a bossy tomboy older sister who led the neighborhood children in all manner of shenanigans, typically inspired by the books she consumed by the dozens. She also liked ice skating, plays, and tests of bravery.

Education

Sara Hunter studied at Dover-Sherborn High School. She had an incredible first-grade teacher who instilled in her a love for reading. She knew by second grade that her dream was to write children’s books. Once her grandmother brought her to the home of Louisa May Alcott in Concord, Massachusetts. She knew that Sara loved reading and writing and thought it would be good for her to visit the home of a famous author. In 1972 she finished Dover-Sherborn High School and entered Dartmouth College.

There she wrote plays and scripts as an undergraduate. In 1976 she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and Italian.

During teaching public speaking, she saw many students shine who didn’t normally excel at academics; these were students who were outgoing and funny among their friends but had difficulty consuming and analyzing texts. This observation prompted her to enroll in 1985 in Harvard’s graduate program for reading and reading disabilities, where she studied with Dr. Jeanne Chall. In 1986 she graduated from Harvard Graduate School of Education with a Master of Education degree.

Career

Soon after graduation, in 1976, Sara Hunter began working at Christian Science Monitor, first in Boston, then in New York. A few years later, in 1982, she returned to Dover to teach high school English and reading skills. She recalls that some of her most rewarding work during that time was teaching public speaking.

In the years following graduation, she directed a documentary about the adoption process and began teaching part-time in childhood enrichment programs. When her children entered grade school, she began working in earnest on three different children’s books. Her first book was part of an Easy-to-Read series, featuring Sesame Street characters. Her young daughter was a great help, telling her when a word was too hard for the book. During her children's elementary school years, she was also writing scripts, parodies and other storybooks for Warner Bros., Looney Tunes, and Nickelodeon. In 1994 Sara Hunter founded her own company Sara Hunter Productions and began working there.

Hunter has written a number of light humorous tales based on familiar characters. Her first book, Miss Piggy’s Night Out, was published in 1995. The following year Hunter issued The Unbreakable Code, which she calls her favorite book she had written so quick. The book began as a conversation with a close friend who was a Nez Perce Indian. This college friend was so creative and full of ideas, she was always telling stories to Sara she couldn’t wait to write down. When she told Sara about a code invented by the Navajos and used during World War II, she told her she should write it as a children’s book, but she wanted Sara to do it. So she did. The Unbreakable Code tells of a little-known historical fact by embedding it in a work of fiction set in the present.

Her next picture book, The Lighthouse Santa, was based on the real-life Edward Rowe Snow. Hunter read from this book at the Boston Athenæum in 2011. Her 2014 book Every Turtle Counts, illustrated by Susan Spellman, tells the story of the rare species of turtle that washes ashore each year on the shores of Cape Cod and the dedicated residents who undertake the task of rescuing them.

Sara Hoagland Hunter is a longtime contributor to Cape Cod Life Publications and her articles have covered a visit to the dune shacks at Sandy Neck Beach in West Barnstable as well as a fun feature on seven Cape & Islands country stories.

Achievements

• Sara Hunter's book Every Turtle Counts is the winner of a Ben Franklin Gold Award, a Moonbeam Children’s Award, and a National Science Teachers Outstanding Science Trade Book Award. The Unbreakable Code is the winner of the Governor of Arizona Award, a Smithsonian Notable Book for Children, and winner of a Western Writers of America award, as well as a National Council of Teachers of English award.
  
  Her award-winning video Born Journey aired on cable stations nationwide. Her two children's albums for Warner Bros., featuring the Baby Looney Tunes, are currently running daily around the world.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Lighthouse Santa

    (As a storm blasts Nantucket Island, Kate waits for the Li...)

    2011
  • Every Turtle Counts

    (When seven-year-old Mimi finds a frozen sea turtle on the...)

    2014
  • Miss Piggy's Night Out

    (Miss Piggy, the beloved lady Muppet, wants to become a Ho...)

    1995
  • Rondo's Stuff

    (Allegra creates a problem for herself when she defies her...)

    1996
  • The Unbreakable Code

    (John's mother is getting married and he has to leave the ...)

    1996

Views

Sara Hunter believes that children on the autism spectrum need to be celebrated for the unique ways they influence the world and make contributions to society.

When she visited the home of Louisa May Alcott in Concord in second grade, she understood that looking through the window during writing is a good idea, so her desk is always facing a window.

Sara learned so much from the inventors of the code whom she interviewed on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona and New Mexico. Their kindness, modesty, and generosity knew no bounds. They wanted a book to share with their grandchildren, and that became her motivation. Her desire was to accurately convey their sacrifices and achievements and to capture some of their phrases, images, and rhythms of speech formed the basis of the text.

Hunter praises Horton Foote’s ability to capture a small town, Elwyn Brooks White for clarity, tenderness and speaking to the heart, and Louisa May Alcott for the tales of the family to which she aspires. She also admires Ralph Waldo Emerson for ideas, Kate DiCamillo and Sherman Alexie for contemporary children’s fiction, and Keven Henkes for picture books. She enjoys Henry Beston and Sarah Orne Jewett for their descriptions of nature. She loves John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces and Watership Down by Richard Adams.

Quotations: "I gravitate towards realistic fiction, true stories of unsung heroes."

"There were many students I was teaching who had learning disabilities and were absolutely outstanding at public speaking and in areas other than writing. That disparity made me want to learn more technical skills about how to address learning issues with reading and writing."

Interests

• skiing, rollerblading, spending time with family, reading, singing, playing piano

Connections

Sara Hunter married Andy Hunter on June 10, 1978. They adopted two children: John and Abigail.

Father:

Joan H. Hoagland

Mother:

Sara R. Hoagland

child:

John

child:

Abigail

husband:

Andy Hunter