Susan Campbell Bartoletti (born 1958) is an American writer of

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

whose work includes '' Kids on Strike!'' and '' Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow''. She was born in

Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in Pe ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...

, but eventually the family ended up in a small town in northeastern Pennsylvania. She graduated from the

University of Scranton The University of Scranton is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1888 by William O'Hara, the first Bishop of Scranton, as St. Thomas College. In 1938, the college was ele ...

in 1982. Campbell Bartoletti began her career as an eighth-grade English teacher before deciding to pursue writing in earnest. Seeing her student write and create original work, she was inspired to create her own. In connection with her students, Susan said that "I felt immense satisfaction in watching my students grow as writers. I wanted to practice what I preached, so I joined a writers group and got serious about my own writing." She sold her first short story in 1989. Three years later, in 1992, Campbell Bartoletti published her first

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 images ...

, ''Silver at Night.'' She held a rigid routine, waking early in the morning in order to write before she left to teach. In 1997, she turned to writing full-time. Since then, her works have received a number of awards, including the NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for Nonfiction, the SCBWI Golden Kite Award for Nonfiction, the Jane Addams Children's Book Award, and the

Newbery Honor Newbery is a surname. People * Chantelle Newbery (born 1977), Australian Olympic diver * David Newbery (born 1943), British economist * Eduardo Newbery (1878–1908), Argentine odontologist and aerostat pilot * Francis Newbery (disambiguation), ...

in 2006. She teaches writing classes at a number of MA and MFA programs, among them

Spalding University Spalding University is a private Catholic university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is affiliated with the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. History Spalding University traces its origins to Nazareth Academy, one of the oldest educational institut ...

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana borde ...

, and

Hollins University Hollins University is a private university in Hollins, Virginia. Founded in 1842 as Valley Union Seminary in the historical settlement of Botetourt Springs, it is one of the oldest institutions of higher education for women in the United States ...

Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 100,011, making it the 8th most populous city in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the largest city in Virginia west of Richmond. It is ...

. Additionally, she leads workshops offered through the Highlights Foundation. She resides with her family in Moscow, Pennsylvania.

Works

Non-fiction

* ''Growing Up in Coal Country'' (1996) * '' Kids on Strike!'' (1999) * ''Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845 to 1850'' (2001)
Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal winner, 2002
* ''The Flag Maker'' (2004) * '' Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow'' (2005) - a

Book 2006 * '' They Called Themselves The K.K.K : The Birth of an American Terrorist Group'' (2010) * '' The Boy Who Dared'' (2008)

Fiction

* ''Silver at Night'' (1994) * ''Dancing with Dziadziu'' (1997) * ''No Man's Land: A Young Soldier's Story'' (1999) * ''A Coal Miner's Bride : The Diary of Anetka Kaminska'' (2000),

Dear America ''Dear America'' is a series of historical fiction novels for children published by Scholastic starting in 1996. By 1998, the series had 12 titles with 3.5 million copies in print. The series was canceled in 2004 with its final release, ''Hear M ...

Series * ''The Christmas Promise'' (2001), Blue Sky PressManternach, Janaan (2007). ''Really Good Books for Kids: A Guide for Catechists and Parents.'' Paulist Press. * ''The Journal of Finn Reardon : A Newsie'' (2003), My Name is America Series * ''Nobody's Nosier Than a Cat'' (2003) * ''Nobody's Diggier than a Dog'' (2005) * ''Naamah and the Ark at Night'' (2011)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bartoletti, Susan Campbell 1958 births Living people American children's writers Writing teachers Novelists from Pennsylvania 21st-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers University of Scranton alumni Spalding University faculty Hollins University faculty 20th-century American non-fiction writers American women children's writers American women novelists Kentucky women writers Novelists from Virginia Novelists from Kentucky American women non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American women academics Newbery Honor winners