Priscilla Cummings (born April 13, 1951) is an American author. She has published

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The ima ...

s and

young adult novels Young adult literature (YA) is typically written for readers aged 12 to 18 and includes most of the themes found in adult fiction, such as family dysfunction, substance abuse, alcoholism, and sexuality. It is characterized by simpler world build ...

, and is most known for writing ''Chadwick the Crab'', a children's picture book, and '' Red Kayak'', a novel for young adults.

Career

Cummings was born on April 13, 1951, in Ludlow, Massachusetts,"Priscilla Cummings.
Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors
Gale, 2008. Gale in Context: Biography. Accessed 13 Sept. 2020. and lived most of her childhood in a farm, as the middle child of three. She graduated from the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire, United States. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant coll ...

, where she acquired a major in English. After graduation, Cummings began working as a

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

. She worked for 10 years to different newspapers from several states, and later, in the 1980s, she moved to

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, where she worked as a writer and editor for ''

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

'' magazine. During her time in Maryland, Cummings met the journalist John Frece, whom she married in 1983. While still working as a reporter Cummings began writing her first book, called ''Chadwick the Crab''. Her script was rejected over a dozen times before finally being accepted for publishing by Tidewater Publishers in 1986. Cummings had her first child in the same year, and, after having her second child three years later, she decided to stay home and take care of them. To reconcile her desire to keep writing, she began working on more picture books for children. She published several other books in the Chadwick series before publishing her first young adult novel in 1997, ''Autumn Journey''. She decided to focus more on young adult novels after her own children started going to high school.

Personal life

Priscilla Cummings is married to John Frece and has two children.

Selected works

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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cummings, Priscilla Living people 1951 births University of New Hampshire alumni American women children's writers American children's writers American women novelists 21st-century American women People from Ludlow, Massachusetts