Candice F. Ransom

Ransom was born on July 10, 1952, in Washington, D.C., and was raised in Centreville, Virginia.[2] Her parents are Thomas Garland and Irene Dellinger Farris.[1] Her experiences growing up in rural Virginia, especially those as a student at Robert Frost Junior High School, provided ideas for her books' plots and characters.[3]

As a child, Ransom wanted to grow up to be a "Writer-detective-veterinarian-artist".[2] She wrote her first book at age 7 because she had finished reading all the books for her grade at the school library. After that she scribbled stories in her spare time, usually casting herself as the star who had all the fun and solved all the mysteries, inventing the adventures that were in short supply in real life.[2] "I was a very nerdy kid. And I didn't have a best friend until I was in fifth grade, so I wrote stories about how I imagined life could be."[3] In her senior year of high school Ransom began writing in earnest, and she made a commitment to herself to become an author; she decided to become a children's author because she loved children's books best of all.[2][3]

Lacking the finances to go to college, Ransom wrote magazine articles in her spare time while she earned a living as a secretary. Her first two submissions to publishers were a book titled “Mystery of the Hidden Carousel”, which was sent to Harper, and a picture book about a mouse (text and colored pen drawings on the same page), which was sent to Whitman. "The mystery came back with tire tracks across the envelope. The picture book disappeared down a mouse hole."[4] Her first published book, The Silvery Pass, came out in 1982.[3] The next big step in Ransom's career came when her publisher called with the chance to write a four-hundred-page historical novel for teens. This offer turned into the first two novels of the highly successful "Sunfire" series.[5] By 1989 Ransom had published 17 books, and was invited to be the keynote speaker for the annual conference of The Society of Children's Book Writers.[6]

In 2004, Ransom graduated from Vermont College of Fine Arts with a MFA in Writing for Children, followed by an MA in children’s literature at Hollins University in 2007.[7]

Ransom has a monthly column in Bookology Magazine, titled "Big Green Pocketbook".[8] The column discusses a range of issues related to books and reading, shares reflections on Ransom's own life as a child who read constantly, and shines a light on her writing influences and processes.

In addition to her writing, Ransom teaches courses in writing at the university level. In 2006 she taught Creative Writing at Spalding University's graduate program, and has been a faculty member at Hollins University, teaching in the Children’s Literature Graduate Program, since 2008.[9]

As of June 2020 Ransom has written 150 books, including 18 books for The Boxcar Children series, The Time Spies series and the Sunfire series. She wrote the Dungeons & Dragons novel, Key to the Griffon's Lair (October 2005). Her work includes picture books, easy readers, middle grade fiction, biographies, and nonfiction. More than 45 of her titles have been translated into 12 languages. Ransom's work has won many honors, including: Booklist Starred Review, School Library Journal Starred Review, ALA Recommended Book for Reluctant Readers, The New York Times 10 Best Illustrated Book, Best Science Book, Children's Book Council Notable Children’s Social Studies Book, Pick of the List, New York Public Library Best 100 Book, Book-of-the-Month Club Selection, Smithsonian Notable Book, IRA Children’s Choice, IRA Teacher’s Choice, Independent Publisher Silver Medal, Independent Publisher Honorable Mention, Virginia Young Readers, Show Me State Readers, Prairie State Readers, Sunshine State Readers, Northern California Librarians Distinguished Book, Chicago Public Library Best of the Best, William Allen White Nominee, Texas Bluebonnet Nominee, and twice Cybils Nominee.[2]

On February 14, 1979, she married Frank Wesley Ransom.[1] They live in Fredericksburg, Virginia.[10]

Emily, a historical romance written by Ransom, was a 1986 finalist for a Romance Writers of America Golden Medallion award.[11] She has also received International Reading Association/Children's Choice designation (1987) for Fourteen and Holding, Best Science Book for Children designation (1994) for Listening to Crickets, The New York Times Best Illustrated Books of the Year inclusion (1995)[12] and New York Public Library's 100 Best Children's Books inclusion (1995) both for When the Whippoorwill Calls illustrated by Kimberly Bulcken Root, Notable Children's Trade Book in the Social Studies (1997) for One Christmas Dawn and (1998) for Fire in the Sky, Hodge-Podge Award for Best Children's Book (2001) for The Promise Quilt, and Independent Publishers Silver Medal Award (2007) for Finding Day's Bottom.[1][13]

• Candice Ransom website