Franny Billingsley is the author of two award-winning children's fantasy novels, Well Wished and The Folk Keeper, as well as the newly released novel Chime and the picture book Big Bad Bunny. She lives in Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

.

Biography

Billingsley graduated from Tufts University

Tufts University

Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...

 in 1976, and from Boston University Law School in 1979. After moving back to Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, she wrote for many years while working at 57th Street Books in Hyde Park until 1999. She is now a full-time author. She lives in the suburbs of Chicago and has two children.

Well Wished

Middle-grade novel, Atheneum

Atheneum Books

Atheneum Books was a publishing house and adult publisher created by Alfred A. Knopf, Jr. in 1959. He recruited editor Jean E. Karl personally, to come and establish a Children's Book Department in 1961....

 1997

Summary:

In the village of Bishop Mayne is a magical Wishing Well where a person may make one wish in a lifetime. But the Well can create problems for those who use its power, for wishes often go wrong. It was just such a wish that took all the children in the town away. Only eleven-year-old Nuria, who lives with her grandfather up on the mountain, remains.
Then one child returns-Catty Winter. Catty's legs are mysteriously crippled, and Catty desperately wants Nuria to make a wish so she can walk again. Nuria swears she will make the wish for her friend. But the Well has a mind of its own. What if Nuria's wish goes wrong?

Awards:

1997-8 Anne Spencer Lindbergh Prize Honor Book (best fantasy written in the English language)

Best Book Lists:

School Library Journal

School Library Journal

The School Library Journal is a monthly magazine with articles and reviews for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with a focus on technology and multimedia. Reviews are included for preschool to 4th grade,...

 Best Book

Booklist

Booklist

Booklist is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. It is geared toward libraries and booksellers and is available in print or online...

 Top Ten First Novels for Youth

School Library Journal

School Library Journal

The School Library Journal is a monthly magazine with articles and reviews for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with a focus on technology and multimedia. Reviews are included for preschool to 4th grade,...

 "Sleeper": 100 Books Too Good to Miss

The Folk Keeper

Young-adult novel, Atheneum

Atheneum Books

Atheneum Books was a publishing house and adult publisher created by Alfred A. Knopf, Jr. in 1959. He recruited editor Jean E. Karl personally, to come and establish a Children's Book Department in 1961....

 1999

Summary:

Corinna is a Folk Keeper. Her job is to keep the mysterious Folk who live beneath the ground at bay. But Corinna has a secret that even she doesn't fully comprehend, until she agrees to serve as Folk Keeper at Marblehaugh Park, a wealthy family's seaside manor. There her hidden powers burst into full force, and Corinna's life changes forever...

Awards:

2000 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award

Boston Globe-Horn Book Award

The Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards were first presented by The Boston Globe and Horn Book Magazine in 1967. They are among the most prestigious honors in the United States in the field of children’s and young adult literature...

, Fiction

2000 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award

Mythopoeic Awards

The Mythopoeic Awards for literature and literary studies are given by the Mythopoeic Society to authors of outstanding works in the fields of myth, fantasy, and the scholarly study of these areas; the full criteria and description can be read on the Mythopoeic Society's -Mythopoeic Fantasy...

, Children's Literature

Best Book Lists:

ALA Notable Book for Children

Booklist

Booklist

Booklist is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. It is geared toward libraries and booksellers and is available in print or online...

 Editors' Choice

School Library Journal

School Library Journal

The School Library Journal is a monthly magazine with articles and reviews for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with a focus on technology and multimedia. Reviews are included for preschool to 4th grade,...

 Best Book

Bulletin

Bulletin

Bulletin can refer to:Periodicals * The Bulletin, a now defunct Australian magazine* The Bulletin , an alternative weekly published in Montgomery County, Texas, United States...

 Blue Ribbon Book

Publishers Weekly

Publishers Weekly

Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...

 Best Book

Booklist

Booklist

Booklist is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. It is geared toward libraries and booksellers and is available in print or online...

 Top Ten Fantasy Books for Youth

Big Bad Bunny

Children's picture book, Atheneum

Atheneum Books

Atheneum Books was a publishing house and adult publisher created by Alfred A. Knopf, Jr. in 1959. He recruited editor Jean E. Karl personally, to come and establish a Children's Book Department in 1961....

 2008

Summary:

At home,
in the Mouse House,
Baby Boo-Boo gets no respect.

Just look at her name:
Baby Boo-Boo.

She's no baby!

The word drives her wild in a big, bad way.

And here's Mama Mouse calling, always calling after her,

"Baby! Where are you, Baby?"

It's humiliating.
Mice (and other small persons)
will understand what
Big Bad Boo-Boo does.
It's quite naughty.

Best Book Lists:

Oprah's Book Club

Oprah's Book Club

Oprah's Book Club was a book discussion club segment of the American talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show, highlighting books chosen by host Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey started the book club in 1996, selecting a new novel for viewers to read and discuss each month. The Club ended its 15-year run, along with...

: Kids Reading List (3–5 Years)

Chime

Young-adult novel, Dial Books

Dial Press

The Dial Press was a publishing house founded in 1923 by Lincoln MacVeagh.Dial Press shared a building with The Dial and Scofield Thayer worked with both. The first imprint was issued in 1924. Authors included Elizabeth Bowen, W.R...

2011

Summary:

Before Briony's stepmother died, she made sure Briony blamed herself for all the family's hardships. Now Briony has worn her guilt for so long it's become a second skin. She often escapes to the swamp, where she tells stories to the Old Ones, the spirits who haunt the marshes. But only witches can see the Old Ones, and in her village, witches are sentenced to death. Briony lives in fear her secret will be found out, even as she believes she deserves the worst kind of punishment.

Then Eldric comes along with his golden lion eyes and mane of tawny hair. He's as natural as the sun, and treats her as if she's extraordinary. And everything starts to change. As many secrets as Briony has been holding, there are secrets even she doesn't know.

External links

• http://www.frannybillingsley.com