Anderson, Marilyn D. 1943-

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ANDERSON, Marilyn D. 1943-

PERSONAL: Born January 31, 1943, in Stillwater, MN; daughter of Chris (a dairy farmer) and Hazel (a dairy farmer) Nielsen; married Kenneth Anderson (a land surveyor), June 26, 1971. Ethnicity: "Scandinavian-American." Education: Augsburg College, B.A. (music education). Religion: Lutheran. Hobbies and other interests: Horses, music, church, traveling.

ADDRESSES: Home and office—10957 U.S. Hwy 50 W., Bedford, IN 47421. E-mail—mandka@dmrtc.net.

CAREER: Self-employed writer, 1983—. Former music teacher; instructor at Institute of Children's Literature.

MEMBER: Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

AWARDS, HONORS: Riding awards for dressage on Morgan horses.

WRITINGS:

The Horse Lover's Handbook (nonfiction), Willowisp Press (Worthington, OH), 1983.

All for a Horse, Willowisp Press (Worthington, OH), 1983, published as The Wild Arabian, 1987.

The Horse That Came to Breakfast, Willowisp Press (Worthington, OH), 1983.

No Home for Shannon, Willowisp Press (Worthington, OH), 1984.

Hot Fudge Pickles, Willowisp Press (Worthington, OH), 1984.

But Maggie Wanted a Pony, 1984, published as Maggie's Wish, 1987.

Barkley, Come Home, Willowisp Press (Worthington, OH), 1985, published as Come Home, Barkley, 1996.

A Horse Named Bandit, Willowisp Press (Worthington, OH), 1985.

The Bridesmaid Wears Trackshoes, Willowisp Press (Worthington, OH), 1985.

Hungry as a Lion (picture book), Willowisp Press (Worthington, OH), 1985.

Marshmallow Pickles, Willowisp Press (Worthington, OH), 1986.

I Don't Want a New Horse, Willowisp Press (Worthington, OH), 1986.

We Have to Get Rid of These Puppies, Willowisp Press (Worthington, OH), 1986.

The Bubble Gum Monster, Willowisp Press (Worthington, OH), 1987.

Nobody Wants Barkley, Willowisp Press (Worthington, OH), 1987.

The Bubble Gum Monster Strikes Again, Willowisp Press (Worthington, OH), 1989.

The Revenge of the Bubble Gum Monster, Willowisp Press (Worthington, OH), 1992.

Bring Back Barkley, Pages Books, 1998.

(With Joy Chaitin and Sarah Stevens Estabrook) The Fourth Wise Man (play), Dramatic Publishing (Woodstock, IL), 1998.

Chris Farley (biography), Chelsea House (New York, NY), 2001.

The Vice Presidency (nonfiction), Chelsea House (New York, NY), 2001.

Sarah Michelle Gellar (biography), Chelsea House (New York, NY), 2002.

Will Smith (biography), Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 2003.

I Don't Want a New Horse was also published in Swedish and Norwegian. Stories and articles have been published in Faces, Cobblestone, Hopscotch, Boys' Quest, Young Salvationist, Discovery Trails, Bread for God's Children, Primary Treasure, Guide, Midwest Hunter, Appaloosa Horse Journal, Library Talk, Once upon a Time, and Children's Writer.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Research on African-American cowboys.

SIDELIGHTS: Marilyn D. Anderson has written numerous chapter books for children, often drawing upon her lifelong interest in and love of horses and dogs to tell stories about children who feel the same. Anderson is also the author of several nonfiction books for young adults, including a biography of comic Chris Farley, a young comedian whose star rose to the level of regular appearances on Saturday Night Live and in feature-length films before he died of drug and alcohol abuse. The star of the television program Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sarah Michelle Gellar is the subject of Anderson's next biography, and another biography, this one of actor and rap star Will Smith, quickly followed. Smith is depicted as a young man of great integrity, an actor who writes children's books as well as rap songs, achieving success in the world of feature-length films as well as television. Anderson shifted her attention to the political world with The Vice Presidency, a nonfiction title that explores the history of the second most powerful position in American politics.

Anderson told CA: "I started thinking about becoming an author when I was four years old. That's hard to believe since I didn't even know the alphabet yet, but the year I was four was an especially difficult year for me.

"My parents had decided that we would no longer live with my grandparents. They rented a diary farm of their own near Scandia, Minnesota, and away we went. This farm was a long way from the nearest neighbor. Since I was an only child and the TV hadn't been invented yet, I had to invent my own entertainment during the day. But every night before I went to bed, Mom would read from a storybook, and I loved those stories. I began to think about writing my own stories some day.

"Of course, becoming an author wasn't the only profession I considered in those early years. Sometimes I dreamed of becoming a famous singer or piano player. I dreamed of riding in horse shows or in the Kentucky Derby. As I grew older, my music seemed the most likely one of my interests to support me, so I became a music teacher.

"I taught all kinds of music in three different states. I spent three years in New London, Minnesota, three more years in Two Harbors, Minnesota, seven years in Wallingford, Vermont, and worked for two and a half more years in Bedford, Indiana. At various times I taught band, choir, and orchestra. I taught kids aged five to eighteen, but my favorite years were the ones I spent as director of the Mill River Union High School Band in Vermont.

"I pursued my interest in horses as a hobby. In Vermont, I was a charter member of the Vermont Arabian Horse Association with my part-Arabian mare Aar Gemini named as state champion many times. When we moved to Indiana in 1978, I discovered dressage. I broke and trained about twenty-five horses of many different breeds, and I showed TRM Adandy, a pony-sized Morgan, in classes approaching Olympic levels of difficulty.

"I had all but forgotten my dream of becoming an author until my cousin's wife surprised me with the news that she'd just had a book published. Suddenly all those suppressed creative juices came bubbling to the surface. She told me that School Book Fairs, a paperback distributor that marketed their wares at school fund raisers, was just beginning to publish some of their own books. They were looking for new talent, so I decided to write the great American horse novel. Unfortunately I had no idea what I was doing, and the resulting book, To Teach a Horse to Dance, was never published.

"However, School Book Fairs saw promise in my first attempt at a novel and said they'd be willing to work with me. What they needed right then was a nonfiction book about horse care. Would I like to write it? Would I ever! The Horse Lover's Handbook was a breeze to write and it was published in 1983. I wrote five more horse novels for School Book Fair under their imprint, Willowisp Press. These books were The Wild Arabian (first called All for a Horse), The Horse That Came to Breakfast, Maggie's Wish (first called But Maggie Wanted a Pony), A Horse Named Bandit, and I Don't Want a New Horse. This last book was also published in Swedish and Norwegian.

"Soon Willowisp wanted something besides horse stories from me so I wrote about dogs. No Home for Shannon, We Have to Get Rid of These Puppies, Barkley, Come Home, Nobody Wants Barkley, and Bring Back Barkley were so popular that most went through several reprintings.

"Next my editor asked me to try humor. I wrote Hot Fudge Pickles and its sequel, Marshmallow Pickles, then The Bridesmaid Wears Trackshoes, and a few years later, I came up with three books about the 'Bubble Gum Monster.' All found eager readers across the nation and points beyond. I even had a little paperback picture book published called Hungry as a Lion.

"In 1998 I was one of Willowisp's best-selling authors and quite pleased with life. But one day I got a call from a friend that said the party was over. Pages Books, which had bought out Willowisp a few years earlier, had discontinued their fund-raising program. They no longer planned to publish my books. I gulped and quickly made sure I got all my copyrights back. Then I began to shop around for another publisher.

"I've had limited success. A software company called T-Rasa bought the rights to the three 'Bubble Gum' stories for use in a new phonics program. My local paper has paid me for the right to use No Home for Shannon in serial format, and I had nibbles from a few other publishers.

"But while I've waited for new successes in the fiction area, I've become an author who loves to write nonfiction. I wrote three books for Chelsea House: a biography of Chris Farley, a biography of Sarah Michelle Gellar, and an overview of the vice presidency of the United States. Then I did a biography of Will Smith for Lucent Publishing. I'm working on several other promising nonfiction projects at the moment.

"When I'm not writing books, I'm turning out short stories for religious magazines and nonfiction articles for a wide range of publications. My play The Fourth Wise Man is available from Dramatic Publishing. I've served as an instructor for the Institute of Children's Literature for about ten years, and I make a few school visits every year.

"I've been blessed with modest success in three very different areas in my life, and I'm sure the best is yet to come."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Horn Book Guide, fall, 2001, Peter D. Sierta, review of Chris Farley, p. 409.

School Library Journal, April, 2002, Tim Wadham, review of Sarah Michelle Gellar, p. 162; March, 2003, Tim Wadham, review of Will Smith, p. 244.