Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen

Background

Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen was born in 1965 in Wisconsin, United States.

Education

Stuve-Bodeen graduated from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls with a degree in Secondary Education. She also received her Master of Fine Arts degree from Spalding University.

Career

Although Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen has always enjoyed writing, she did not begin to make it a career until after her children were born. Raised on a dairy farm in Wisconsin, Stuve-Bodeen went to Tanzania as a Peace Corps volunteer after graduating from the University of Wisconsin - River Falls. Her experiences in Africa inspired the setting and characters for her first picture book, Elizabeti's Doll, as well as a series of other books that follow Stuve-Bodeen's likable young protagonist: Mama Elizabeti and Elizabeti's School.

Elizabeti's Doll drew warm praise for its unpretentiousness and sensitivity to Tanzanian culture. In it, Stuve-Bodeen shares with readers the common experiences that unite young girls of all parts of the world. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly hailed it as an "impressive debut" enhanced by "well-balanced prose" and a fittingly gentle tone. In School Library Journal, Martha Topol called the book "a splendid celebration of life and the power of a child's imagination."

The idea for Elizabeti's Doll came from Stuve-Bodeen's experience staying with a Tanzanian village family for a week during her Peace Corps stint. The book was followed by six other picture books. Her first young adult novel written as S.A. Bodeen, the award-winning The Compound, came out from Feiwel and Friends in 2008. The novel count is up to nine, with the tenth releasing in 2018.

Stuve-Bodeen has lived in eight states, two African countries, and an insular possession. Currently, she lives in the Midwest with her husband and two daughters.

Achievements

• Stuve-Bodeen is most commonly known for her writings for children. Her book Elizabeti’s Doll won the 1999 Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award from the New York Public Library and was named a Charlotte Zolotow Award Highly Commended Title. The book also received Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award, Minnesota Book Award, Charlotte Zolotow Award Highly Commended designation, Bank Street College Children's Book of the Year, and American Library Association Notable Book designation, all 1999.
  
  In 2001 Stuve-Bodeen was awarded Patterson Prize, Society of School Librarians International Honor Book designation, Bank Street College Outstanding Merit designation, and Parent's Choice Fiction Award, all for Mama Elizabeti. The author won Bank Street College Best Books of the Year designation, and was named an Outstanding Achievement in Children's Literature in 2002 and Wisconsin State Library Association in 2004, both for Elizabeti's School. The book Babu's Song became a recipient of Parent's Choice Recommended designation in 2003, and African Studies Association Children's Africana Book Award, as well as Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award finalist, and Storyteller's World Award, all 2004.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Best Worst Brother

    (The Best Worst Brother is an endearing and realistic look...)

    2005
  • Mama Elizabeti

    (When her mother has a new baby, Elizabeti is given charge...)

    2000
  • We'll Paint the Octopus Red

    (The book concludes with a set of commonly asked questions...)

    1998
  • Elizabeti's School

    (In this third book of the popular Elizabeti series, a you...)

    2002
  • Elizabeti's Doll

    (When her new baby brother arrives, Elizabeti, a young Tan...)

    1998
  • Babu's Song

    (Bernardi lives with his grandfather, Babu, who supports t...)

    2003
  • A Small Brown Dog with a Wet Pink Nose 2010

Connections

Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen is married and has two daughters.