Ginger Wadsworth

Ginger Wadsworth

Wadsworth in 2012
Born Virginia Leland Evarts
San Diego, California, USA
Occupation Writer
Nationality American
Period 1980s–present
Genre Biography, Western American history, science, natural history, children's literature
Notable awards Western Writers of America Spur Award
2004 and 2014
Website
gingerwadsworth.com

Virginia "Ginger" Wadsworth is an American writer of biographies, Western American history, science, and natural history for young readers. She is the author of more than 25 award-winning books.

Early life

Virginia Leland Evarts was born in San Diego to Dorothea Abbott Evarts, an artist and teacher, and Hal G. Evarts, Jr., an author of many western books, stories for the Saturday Evening Post, biographies, and adventure titles for young readers. Her maternal grandfather, Clinton Gilbert Abbott, was the director of the San Diego Natural History Museum and her paternal grandfather, Hal G. Evarts, was an author of western novels in the 1920s and 1930s.

She and her two younger brothers camped with their family in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, explored Baja California, and traveled throughout the Western United States while their father conducted research for his writing. She spent three summers on a ranch and made a six-week bicycle trip from San Diego to Canada with her Girl Scout troop.

Wadsworth graduated from La Jolla High School, and attended the University of California Davis where she graduated with an English degree and minor in Western American History.[1]

Personal life

In 1967, she married Bill Wadsworth. They have two sons and three grandchildren. Wadsworth and her husband live in the San Francisco East Bay area and also spend time in Borrego Springs.

Wadsworth takes her trained therapy dogs into libraries and schools where children (mostly reluctant readers) read to the dogs in Paws to Read programs.[2] She and her dogs are affiliated with Tony La Russa's Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF) and they also visit Alzheimer respite care facilities. She serves on the Friends of the Library board of directors.

Career

Wadsworth started writing journals and short stories at a young age. When her children were in elementary school, she began submitting articles to magazines, including Cobblestone (magazine), and had many articles published. Some of her biographies were expansions of those published articles.

Her first published book was a 1990 biography of Julia Morgan,[3] a California architect and first woman to win the American Institute of Architects' AIA Gold Medal. John Muir,[4] Rachel Carson,[5][6] John Burroughs, and Laura Ingalls Wilder were among her early biography subjects. She wrote about Susan Butcher and her dogs who won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Alaska four times. She then wrote a series about animal habitats and another about animal homes. More biographies followed, including ones about Annie Oakley, Benjamin Banneker, Cesar Chavez, and the Wright Brothers. Wadsworth's more recent books include the true story of John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt camping together in Yosemite in 1903, a biography of Juliette Gordon Low the founder of Girl Scouts of the USA,[7][8] plus a picture book about a pair of Yosemite Valley coyotes separated by a rockfall and ultimately reunited.[9] She is never without ideas for future books!

Published books and key awards/honors

Many of Wadsworth's books have been named to recommended book lists compiled by Social Studies Librarians International, Smithsonian, National Science Teachers Association, Children's Book Council, California Readers, and the Association of Children's Librarians.

Biographies

Western Americana

Science and Natural History

Fiction/Picture Book

References

  1. ↑ "UC Davis brings children’s books, authors into classrooms". UC Davis News and Information. By Erin Loury
  2. ↑ "Soul Support - The Orinda Park and Recreation Foundation". Lamorinda Weekly. By Laurie Snyder
  3. ↑ Wadsworth, Ginger (1990). Julia Morgan, architect of dreams. Minneapolis: Lerner. ISBN 0-8225-4903-4.
  4. ↑ Sharron L. McElmeel (1995). Great New Nonfiction Reads. Libraries Unlimited. ISBN 978-1-56308-228-3.
  5. 1 2 Jennifer COX (1993). Children's Britannica Yearbook 1993. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-85229-238-9.
  6. ↑ Susan M. Tierney (1 November 2007). Children's Writer Guide To 2008. Writer's Institute Publications. ISBN 978-1-889715-38-4.
  7. ↑ "Young readers’ (nonrequired) summer books list". Boston Globe.
  8. ↑ "FIRST GIRL SCOUT". Kirkus Reviews.
  9. ↑ " Yosemite's Songster: One Coyote’s Story". Publishers Weekly.
  10. ↑ "Saluting a Centennial". Wall Street Journal By Amy Finnerty February 11, 2012
  11. ↑ Erica Bauermeister; Holly Smith (1 March 1997). Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. Penguin Publishing Group. pp. 103–. ISBN 978-1-101-16175-3.
  12. ↑ Tom Burns (1 December 2007). Children's Literature Review. Cengage Gale. p. 105. ISBN 978-0-7876-9604-7.
  13. ↑ Ann Claunch; Linda L. Tripp (2009). Gateways to Westward Expansion: Using Literature and Primary Sources to Enhance Reading Instruction and Historical Understanding. Teacher Ideas Press. p. 13. ISBN 978-1-59158-748-4.
  14. ↑ Lynda Hatch; Kathryn R. Marlin (1994). The Santa Fe Trail. Frank Schaffer Publications. p. 95. ISBN 978-0-86653-811-4.

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