Stephen E. Cosgrove (born July 26, 1945) is a children's author and toy designer. He is known for ''

Serendipity Serendipity is an unplanned fortunate discovery. The term was coined by Horace Walpole in 1754. The concept is often associated with scientific and technological breakthroughs, where accidental discoveries led to new insights or inventions. Ma ...

'', a series of children's books. The series was adapted into a 26-episode anime, ''

Serendipity the Pink Dragon is an anime television series produced by ZUIYO Enterprise that aired on NTV on July 1, 1983, ending on December 23. The series was based on the ''Serendipity'' books by Stephen Cosgrove and character designs for the animation version were d ...

''.

Early life and education

Cosgrove was born in

Metaline Falls, Washington Metaline Falls is a town in Pend Oreille County, Washington, Pend Oreille County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. The population was 272 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History By 1810, Animal trapping, European fu ...

and raised in

Kennewick, Washington Kennewick () is a city in Benton County, Washington, Benton County in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It is located along the southwest bank of the Columbia River, just southeast of the confluence of the Columbia and Yakima ...

, then Burley and

Boise, Idaho Boise ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Idaho, most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, there were 235,685 people residing in the city. Loca ...

. He attended

Borah High School Borah High School is a three-year public secondary school in the western United States, located in Boise, Idaho. One of four traditional high schools in the Boise School District, it serves students in grades in the southwest portion of the di ...

in Boise, Idaho. Growing up, Cosgrove was greatly influenced by

Aesop's Fables Aesop's Fables, or the Aesopica, is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a Slavery in ancient Greece, slave and storyteller who lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 Before the Common Era, BCE. Of varied and unclear origins, the stor ...

. In 1963, he received a scholarship for and attended

Stephens College Stephens College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Timeline of women's colleges in the United States#First and oldest, the second-oldest women's educa ...

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in Missouri, United States. It was founded in 1821 as the county seat of Boone County, Missouri, Boone County and had a population of 126,254 as recorded in the 2020 United States census, making it the List of cities in Misso ...

Writing career

In 1973, Cosgrove teamed with illustrator Robin James, and wrote his first four books which began the Serendipity Series: "Serendipity", " Wheedle on the Needle", "The Dream Tree", and "The Muffin Muncher". His goal in writing these books was to create interesting, fun, affordable books that contained a moral in each story. The next year, a large New York publishing company offered Cosgrove a contract, but he refused and continued on in his search for a publisher. Three months later, Cosgrove established his own publishing company, Serendipity Press, where he was the author, publisher, shipping clerk, and janitor. In 1978, after selling over 3 million books, Cosgrove sold Serendipity Press to Penguin/Putnam and began focusing on multimedia literature for children. In 1990, Cosgrove and Wendy Edelson were awarded the Silver Jubilee Honor by the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA) for "Ira Woodworthy". In 2002, Cosgrove created the websites Web-pop, Book-pop, and Chatty Hattie, where children can read stories online with colorful and interactive illustrations. Two years later, in 2004, he created the website BuggBooks, where children can have stories read to them by the author. Currently, Cosgrove has written around 325 books, ranging from picture books for younger children to

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 ...

References

External links

Official website

Web-pop

Bugg Books

Book-pop

Chatty Hattie
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cosgrove, Stephen 1945 births Living people American children's writers