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Meet the Author
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Jane Ann Peddicord is an award winning
children’s book author, lawyer, and space
enthusiast. For her thoughts on writing for
children, read her interview in Cynsations,
the acclaimed blog by New York Times best
selling author Cynthia Leitich Smith.
Jane is represented by Rosemary Stimola of
the Stimola Literary Studio.
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Her first book, NIGHT WONDERS (Charlesbridge Publishing, 2005) is a flight of fancy
through our solar system and beyond, to the edges of the known universe. A mixed genre
work, blending poetry and prose, non-fiction and adventure, NIGHT WONDERS won
the 2006 International Reading Association Children’s Book Award for Primary Nonfiction.
Her next book, THAT SPECIAL LITTLE BABY (Harcourt 2007), illustrated by Meilo So,
also incorporates lively rhyming stanzas, this time to celebrate toddler achievements of
cosmic proportions from walking and talking, to wearing big kid pants, and…well, you’ll
see.
Jane launched SpaceBlog on January 9, 2011, seeking to interest kids in space by engaging
them directly in the discovery process. "I'll use anything I can think of to draw kids in,"
Jane says. And she does; starting with SpaceGame a virtual hunt for mystery destinations in
our solar system. Clues range from helpful Skype messages from someone called 'Nasa'
and lapses into old English (brought on by the Shakespearian names of Uranus' 27 moons),
to weekly limerick riddles, aka limmer-iddles, submitted by the mystery planets
themselves. Lots of authentic photographs enliven the site and it all works together to take
the reader out of this world, at least for a few minutes with each new post.
Jane has been a featured author at the Texas Book Festival, as well as at schools, public
libraries, and universities, and is an author participant in the Texas Writer’s League Project
WISE school enrichment program. “Jane did a wonderful job…We were thrilled to be
able to have her visit our campus!” reported McBee Elementary School librarian Heather
Stephens, after a recent visit.
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In addition to authoring SpaceBlog, she is currently writing a new book about space
exploration in our solar system, provisionally titled, Within Our Reach. She volunteers
with American Gateways, providing pro bono legal services to immigrants and refugees in
Central Texas, and serves on the board of the Texas After Violence Project, an oral
history initiative that works to reduce violence by listening.
Jane lives happily in Austin, Texas with her husband (a UT math professor), their two
children (in between University terms and internships), and their three springer spaniels.
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