Ann K. Morris

Author Ann K. Morris

Biography

I have earned bachelor’s degrees in English, psychology, and elementary education, and a master’s degree in journalism.

I started my career working as a legislative correspondent for a U.S. senator in Washington, D.C. I wrote responses to his constituents’ concerns, as well as a statement for him to read on the Senate floor. It was an exciting time, as I met interesting people and attended an Inaugural Ball.

While in graduate school, I wrote articles for the Campus Life section of The New York Times. I continued working in newspapers when I became a reporter and later an associate editor of the Evergreen (Colorado) Canyon Courier. After three years with that newspaper, I became a freelance writer and contributed to multiple newspapers and magazines.

After writing for 13 years, I became a middle school English teacher. In this role, I learned what middle-grade readers like and dislike in fiction. They love cliffhangers, they hate romance, and an unsatisfactory ending can ruin a story for them.

I love writing both middle grade and young adult fiction. It was while I was teaching that I thought of the idea for I Taught Benjamin Franklin How to Drive. For eight years in a row, I assigned a four-page term paper that required my students to research and write about an inventor of their choice. I found all of the inventors interesting, but none more than Benjamin Franklin, and I kept wondering what he would think if he were to visit the country today.

My other books are my middle grade novel I Bailed Galileo Out of Jail and my young adult novel-in-verse THIN.

My husband and I have two daughters, ages 25 and 26, one son-in-law, and a granddaughter. We live in Colorado. We love to travel; I’ve been to 22 countries and every state in the United States. We also love dogs and have rescued seven of them over the years. I love reading, writing, and hiking, hate cooking, and have a terrible fear of heights.

Bibliography

Thin