complete author bio

Jacqueline Davies—Biography

Permission is granted to members of the press to reproduce this bio in part or in whole.

Jacqueline Davies was born on July 25, 1962, in Cleveland, Ohio, to Dr. I. John Davies and Ann R. Davies. She has two older sisters, Leslie and Kim, and a younger brother, Tom. Ms. Davies lived in Cleveland; Portland, Oregon; Hingham, Massachusetts; La Jolla, California; and Wellesley, Massachusetts, as a child. In 1980, she graduated from Wellesley High School and then went on to attend Brown University, where she was graduated in 1984 with a Bachelors of Arts degree in Creative Writing. While at Brown, she studied with poet Michael Harper, novelist John Hawkes, and novelist Meredith Steinbach.

After graduating from college, Ms. Davies lived in Greece and France for two years. Upon returning to the Boston area to live, she began a successful career writing corporate marketing pieces on a freelance basis. In 1992, she wrote her first children’s book, a picture book about a discontented blowfish that remains unsold to this day.

Ms. Davies has five published books to her credit. Where the Ground Meets the Sky (Cavendish, 2002) is a historical novel set in Los Alamos, New Mexico, during World War II. It tells the story of a 12-year-old girl who is witness to her father’s efforts in building the first atomic bomb. The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon (Houghton Mifflin, 2004, illustrated by Melissa Sweet) is a picture book that describes one year in the life of the famous naturalist as he befriends a pair of Phoebe birds and wonders if they will return to the same nest in the spring. The Night Is Singing (Dial, 2006, illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker) is a lyrical, evocative lullaby book for the youngest readers. The House Takes a Vacation (Cavendish, 2007, illustrated by Lee White) is a pun-filled fantasy about a house that decides to visit the beach for a summer holiday. The Lemonade War (Houghton Mifflin, 2007), Ms. Davies’s newest book, tells the story of a brother and sister who make a bet to see who can sell the most lemonade in five days.

Ms. Davies’s books have won numerous awards, including the NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students K-12, the John Burroughs List of Nature Books for Young Readers, The Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award, the New York Library’s Best Books List, the NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People, the IRA/CBC Children’s Award Notable Book for Fiction, the Bank Street College of Education’s Best Children’s Books, and the CCBC Choices Award.

Ms. Davies has one additional book under contract: Tricking the Tallyman (Random House, forthcoming, illustrated by S.D. Schindler) is a historical fiction picture book that tells the hilarious story of one man’s attempt to count the people of a Vermont town during the taking of the first U.S. Census in 1790.

Ms. Davies lives in Needham, Massachusetts with her husband (John Bennett), their three children (Sam, Henry, and Mae), and their dog (Harley). She enjoys reading, gardening, and sipping tall, cool glasses of lemonade.