Peg Kehret

Margaret Ann Kehret (née Schulze; November 11, 1936 – December 7, 2025) was an American author, primarily writing for children between the ages of 10 and 15. After beating three types of polio at age 12, Kehret went on to become an author of children's, young adults', and adults' literature, winning over fifty awards throughout her career.

Background Margaret Ann Schulze was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on November 11, 1936. She contracted polio at age 12 in 1949. She had each of the three types of polio: spinal, respiratory, and bulbar. She was paralyzed from the neck down and had a nine-month hospital stay. The experience changed Kehret's life, as she describes in her 1996 memoir Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio. Kehret made a complete recovery aside from lingering post-polio syndrome. She later graduated from Austin High School and then attended the University of Minnesota for one year. In 1955, she married Carl Kehret; they moved to California and adopted two children, Bob and Anne.

In 1970, the Kehrets moved to Washington. Carl died in 2004. Kehret had four grandchildren: Brett, Chelsea, Eric, and Mark. She had a great-grandson, Seth, who also lived in Washington. Kehret resided near Mt. Rainier National Park.

Kehret spent six weeks every spring and fall visiting schools across the country, but later had to cut these visits due to difficulties caused by post-polio syndrome. In addition to being a writer, she spent much of her life rescuing and caring for animals, including volunteering at the Seattle humane society for more than 25 years, inspiring many of her fictional works. Following her husband's passing in 2004, Kehret maintained her passion by continuing to foster cats. She also wrote a "Pet of the Month" column for her local newspaper alongside her volunteer work with animals.

Career Before Kehret began writing children's books, she wrote plays, radio commercials and magazine stories. Her transition to writing for children stems from what she cites as the importance of children’s books: undoing negative effects left on children by mainstream media, movies, and video games and instead, teaching them empathy. She weaves character growth and age appropriate moral dilemmas into her forty-six works for middle school students, including four children's drama books. In total, her books have won more than fifty state young reader awards.

Kehret's polio memoir received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews,

She was awarded the Charlotte Award sponsored by the New York State Reading Association for her work Stolen Children in 2010.

Selected works

Fiction Deadly Stranger (Dodd, Mead, 1987) Nightmare Mountain (Dutton, 1989) Sisters, Long Ago (Dutton, 1990) Cages (Dutton, 1991) Night of Fear (Dutton, 1994) The Richest Kids in Town (Dutton, 1994) Earthquake Terror (Dutton, 1996) Searching for Candlestick Park (Dutton, 1997) The Secret Journey (Simon & Schuster, 1999) I'm Not Who You Think I Am (Dutton, 1999) My Brother Made Me Do It (Simon & Schuster, 2000) Don't Tell Anyone (Dutton, 2000) Saving Lilly (Aladdin, 2001) Escaping the Giant Wave (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2003) Abduction! (Dutton, 2006) The Ghost's Grave (Dutton, 2005) Stolen Children (Dutton, 2008) Runaway Twin (Dutton, 2009) Ghost Dog Secrets (Dutton, 2010) Dangerous Deception (Dutton, 2014)

Disaster series The Volcano Disaster (Simon & Schuster, 1998) The Blizzard Disaster (Minstrel, 1998) Flood Disaster (Minstrel, 1999)

Ellen and Corey series Terror at the Zoo (Dutton, 1992) Horror at the Haunted House (Dutton, 1992) Danger at the Fair (Dutton, 1995)

Frightmares series Cat Burglar on the Prowl (Minstrel, 1995) Bone Breath and the Vandals (Simon & Schuster, 1995) Don't Go Near Mrs. Tallie (Minstrel, 1995) Desert Danger (Aladdin, 1995) The Ghost Followed Us Home (Minstrel, 1996) Race to Disaster (Minstrel, 1996) Screaming Eagles (Aladdin, 1996) Backstage Fright (Minstrel, 1996)

Pete the Cat series The Stranger Next Door (Dutton, 2002) Spy Cat (Dutton, 2003) Trapped (Dutton, 2006)

Drama Let Him Sleep 'Till It's Time for His Funeral (Hanbury Plays, 1976), Spirit! (Pioneer Drama Service, 1979) Winning Monologues for Young Actors: 65 honest-to-life characterizations to delight young actors and audiences of all ages (Colorado Springs, CO: Meriwether Publishing, 1986) Encore!: More Winning Monologues for Young Actors : 63 More Honest-to-Life Monologues for Teenage Boys and Girls (Meriwether, 1988) Acting Natural (Meriwether Publishing, 1991) Tell It Like It Is: Fifty Monologues for Talented Teens (Meriwether Publishing, 2007)

Nonfiction Vows of Love and Marriage (Meriwether Publishing, 1980) Refinishing and Restoring Your Piano (Blue Ridge Summit, PA: Tab Books, 1985) Wedding Vows: How to Express Your Love in Your Own Words (Meriwether Publishing, 1989) Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio (Morton Grove, IL: Albert Whitman, 1996) Shelter Dogs: Amazing Stories of Adopted Strays (Perfection Learning, 1999) Five Pages A Day: A Writer's Journey (Albert Whitman & Company, 2002) Animals Welcome: A Life of Reading, Writing, and Rescue (Dutton Children's Books, 2012)