Marion Dane Bauer

Marion Dane Bauer (born November 20, 1938) is an American children's author.

Bauer was born on November 20, 1938, and brought up in Oglesby, a small prairie town in Northern Illinois. She was educated at LaSalle-Peru-Oglesby Junior College, the University of Missouri and the University of Oklahoma, where she graduated in 1962. She married Ronald Bauer, raising their two children as well as being a foster parent for other children. That marriage ended in divorce after 28 years. She has taught English at a Wisconsin high school and classes in creative writing in Minnesota. Marion was one of the founders of the Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She lives and works in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Marion wanted to be a writer from an early age. As a child, she says, "I constantly made [stories] up in my head, for my dolls, for my friends. I acted them out using my cigar box filled with marbles as characters." An aunt gave her vital encouragement during her teenage years, by taking her work seriously and urging her to continue writing. Bauer recalls that "the example of someone who loved writing and found doing it both good and important, probably influenced me more deeply than any other."

Recognition Rain of Fire (1983) won the Jane Addams Children's Book Award in 1984. On My Honor (1986) was a Newbery Honor Book in 1987 and won the William Allen White Children's Book Award in 1989. Am I Blue, an anthology of children's fiction about gay and lesbian issues, won a Lambda Literary Award in 1994, and the Stonewall Book Award for literature in 1995. Bauer received the Kerlan Award in 1996. The Longest Night (2009) won a 2010 Golden Kite Award for picture-book text.

Books Shelter from the Wind, 1976 Foster Child, 1977 Tangled Butterfly, 1980 Rain of Fire, 1983 Like Mother, Like Daughter, 1985 On My Honor (Newbery Medal Winner), 1986 Touch the Moon, 1987 A Dream of Queens and Castles, 1990 Face to Face, 1991 What's Your Story?: a young person's guide to writing fiction, 1992 Ghost Eye, 1992 A Taste of Smoke, 1993 (ed.) Am I Blue?: coming out from the silence, 1994 A Question of Trust, 1994 A Writer's Story: From Life to Fiction, 1995 When I Go Camping with Grandma, 1995 Our Stories, A Fiction Workshop for Young Authors, 1996 If You Were Born a Kitten, 1997 Alison's Wings, 1997 Alison's Puppy, 1997 Alison's Fierce and Ugly Halloween, 1997 Turtle Dreams, 1997 Christmas in the Forest, 1998 Bear's Hiccups, 1998 An Early Winter, 1999 Sleep, Little One, Sleep, 1999 The Double Digit Club, 2000 Grandmother's Song, 2000 Jason's Bears, 2000 My Mother is Mine, 2001 If you Had a Nose Like an Elephant's Trunk, 2001 Runt, 2002 The Kissing Monster, 2002 Uh-Oh!, 2002 Frog's Best Friend, 2002 Love Song for a Baby, 2002 Land of the Buffalo Bones: the diary of Mary Ann Elizabeth Rodgers, an English girl in Minnesota, 2003. In the Dear America series. Snow, 2003 Wind, 2003 Why Do Kittens Purr?, 2003 Toes, Ears & Nose! 2003 The Double-Digit Club, 2004 The Very Best Daddy of All, 2004 A Mama for Owen, 2004 Clouds, 2004 Rain, 2004 A Bear Named Trouble, 2005 The Blue Ghost, 2005 Easter is Coming, 2005 A Recipe for Valentine's Day, 2005 Waiting for Christmas, 2005 If Frogs Made Weather, 2005 Niagara Falls, 2006 The Rocky Mountains, 2006 The Grand Canyon, 2006 Christmas Lights, 2006 I'm Not Afraid of Halloween!, 2006 The Statue of Liberty, 2007 Mount Rushmore, 2007 The Mighty Mississippi, 2007 The Secret of the Painted House, 2007 Killing Miss Kitty and Other Sins, 2007 Baby Bear Discovers the World, 2007 A Mama for Owen, 2007 The Red Ghost, 2008 The Green Ghost, 2008 Some Babies Are Wild, 2008 Yellowstone, 2008 Volcano!, 2008 Flood!, 2008 Earthquake!, 2009 The Very Little Princess, 2009 The Christmas Baby, 2009 Martin Luther King, Jr. - My First Biography, 2009 The Longest Night, 2009 One Brown Bunny, 2009 How Do I Love You?, 2009 Cutest Critter, 2010 Christopher Columbus - My First Biography, 2010 Harriet Tubman - My First Biography, 2010 Thank You for Me!, 2010 The Longest Night, 2011 In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb, 2011 Benjamin Franklin - My First Biography, 2011 The Golden Ghost, 2011 The Very Little Princess - Rose's Story, 2011 The Very Little Princess - Zoey's Story, 2011 Dinosaur Thunder, 2012 Halloween Forest, 2012 Little Dog, Lost, 2012 Celebrating Arizona, 2013 Celebrating Texas, 2013 Celebrating New York, 2013 Celebrating Florida, 2013 Celebrating California, 2013 Celebrating Virginia and Washington, D.C., 2013 Celebrating North Carolina, 2014 Celebrating Washington State, 2014 Celebrating Massachusetts, 2014 Celebrating Illinois, 2014 Crinkle, Crackle, Crack, It's Spring, 2015 Little Cat's Luck, 2016 Sun, 2016 Rainbow, 2016 Winter Dance, 2017 Jump Little Wood Ducks, 2017 The Stuff of Stars, 2018 The Appalachian Trail, 2020 Sunshine, 2021 Moon - Our Universe Series, 2021 Mars - Our Universe Series, 2021 Earth - Our Universe Series, 2021 The Animals Speak, 2021 The Night Sky - Our Universe Series, 2023 We, the Curious Ones, 2023 The Solar System - Our Universe Series, 2024