SAMPSON, Michael 1952-

PERSONAL: Born October 13, 1952, in Denison, TX; son of Roy (a carpenter) and Ida (a homemaker; maiden name, Bon) Sampson; married Mary Beth Glossup (a professor), 1973; children: Jonathan, Joshua. Education: East Texas State University, B.S., 1974, M.Ed., 1976; University of Arizona, Ph.D., 1980. Politics: Independent. Religion: Baptist.

ADDRESSES: Home—Route 2, Box 50-7, Campbell, TX 75422. Office—Department of Elementary Education, Texas A & M University—Commerce, Commerce, TX 75429-3011. E-mail—Michael@michaelsampson.com.

CAREER: Educator, author, and storyteller. Commerce Independent School District, Commerce, TX, teacher, 1974-76; Texas A & M University—Commerce, professor, 1979—. International Institute of Literacy Learning, executive director, 1980—. With Bill Martin, Jr., hosted Pathways to Literacy teaching workshops throughout the United States. National Reading Conference, member of technology committee, 2002; vice chair, Texas Education Agency Professional Practices Commission; member of governing board, National Association of Creative Adults and Young Children. Storyteller at schools and libraries.

MEMBER: International Reading Association (member, Las Vegas program committee), National Reading Conference, National Council of Teachers of English, Texas Association for the Improvement of Reading (state board member; state president), Phi Delta Kappa.

WRITINGS:

FOR CHILDREN

The Football That Won . . . , illustrated by Ted Rand, Holt (New York, NY), 1996.

(With Bill Martin, Jr.) Si Won's Victory, Scott Foresman (Reading, MA), 1996.

(With Mary Beth Sampson) Star of the Circus, illustrated by Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey, Holt (New York, NY), 1996.

(With Bill Martin, Jr.) Yummy Tum Tee, Scott Foresman (Reading, MA), 1996.

(With Bill Martin, Jr.) City Scenes, Learning Media Ltd. (Wellington, New Zealand), 1997.

(With Mary Beth Sampson) Wild Bear, Learning Media Ltd. (Wellington, New Zealand), 1997.

(With Bill Martin, Jr.) Football Fever, Learning Media Ltd. (Wellington, New Zealand), 1997.

(With Bill Martin, Jr.) Swish!, illustrated by Michael Chesworth, Holt (New York, NY), 1997.

(With Bill Martin, Jr.) Adam, Adam, What Do You See?, illustrated by Cathie Felstead, Tommy Nelson (Nashville, TN), 2000.

(With Bill Martin, Jr.) The Little Squeegy Bug (based on the book by Martin published in 1946), illustrated by Pat Corrigan, Winslow Press (Delray Beach, FL), 2001.

(With Bill Martin, Jr.) Rock It, Sock It, Number Line!, illustrated by Heather Cahoon, Holt (New York, NY), 2001.

(With Bill Martin, Jr.) Little Granny Quarterback, illustrated by Michael Chesworth, Boyds Mills Press, 2001.

(With Bill Martin, Jr.) I Pledge Allegiance, illustrated by Chris Raschka, Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 2002.

(With Bill Martin, Jr.) Trick or Treat?, illustrated by Paul Meisel, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2002.

(With Bill Martin, Jr.) Caddie the Golf Dog, illustrated by Floyd Cooper, Walker (New York, NY), 2002.

Sampson's books have been translated into Spanish.

TEACHING MATERIALS

(With T. Kelly) Signs and Safety, Kendall/Hunt (Dubuque, IA), 1986.

School, Kendall/Hunt (Dubuque, IA), 1986.

My House, Kendall/Hunt (Dubuque, IA), 1986.

Transportation, Kendall/Hunt (Dubuque, IA), 1986.

Nutrition, Kendall/Hunt (Dubuque, IA), 1986.

Supermarkets, Kendall/Hunt (Dubuque, IA), 1986.

Jobs in the Family, Kendall/Hunt (Dubuque, IA), 1986.

Growing Up, Kendall/Hunt (Dubuque, IA), 1986.

All about Time, Kendall/Hunt (Dubuque, IA), 1986.

Pets, Kendall/Hunt (Dubuque, IA), 1986.

The Zoo, Kendall/Hunt (Dubuque, IA), 1986.

Insects, Kendall/Hunt (Dubuque, IA), 1986.

Also contributor to teaching materials published by Developmental Learning Materials (Allen, TX), 1989.

FOR ADULTS

(Editor) The Pursuit of Literacy: Early Reading and Writing, Kendall/Hunt Publishing (Dubuque, IA), 1986.

Experiences for Literacy, SRA Technology Training (Chicago, IL), 1990.

(With Mary Beth Sampson and Roach Van Allen) Pathways to Literacy: A Meaning-centered Perspective, Holt, 1991, 2nd edition published as Pathways to Literacy: Process Transactions, Harcourt (New York, NY), 1995, 3rd edition published as Total Literacy: Pathways to Reading, Writing, and Learning, Wadsworth (San Francisco, CA), 2003.

Contributor of articles and reviews to professional journals and periodicals, including Reading Teacher, ACT, Tender Years, Reading Improvement, Christian Life, Reading Horizons, Reading Research Quarterly, Living with Preschoolers, Industrial Education and Ohio Reading Teacher. Contributor to books, including Practical Classroom Applications of Language Experience: Looking Back and Looking Forward, edited by O. G. Nelson and W. M. Linek, Allyn & Bacon (Boston, MA), 1999.

SIDELIGHTS: Michael Sampson is an author and educator who has devoted his career to helping kids read and love it. Both on his own and together with longtime collaborator, children's writer Bill Martin, Jr., Sampson has written humorous titles such as Swish!, Rock It, Sock It, Number Line!, and Caddie the Golf Dog. Published in 1997, Swish! tells the story of two rival girls' basketball teams, and is punctuated by the ebb and flow of an actual basketball game, while in Trick or Treat? puns, alliteration, and other wordplay provide fun for novice readers. In the pages of Rock It, Sock It, Number Line! a parade of strutting vegetables helps teach young readers the numbers one through ten. On a quieter note, Caddie the Golf Dog introduces young children to a stray dog who finds not one but two loving homes in a "touching story" by Sampson and Martin that School Library Journal contributor Linda Ludke maintained would "resonate with children." Adam, Adam, What Do You See? reflects its authors' Christian faith in its descriptions of Bible characters and Christian concepts as well as its inclusion of short verses from both the Old and New Testament. Calling the text "friendly and age-appropriate," a Publishers Weekly contributor deemed Adam, Adam, What Do You See? a picture book that encourages discussion and leads curious "readers to the biblical verses that serve as sources."

Sampson joined collaborator Bill Martin, Jr. to update Martin's first children's book, originally published in 1946. In The Little Squeegy Bug a small bug feels less important than the other insects around him, but his efforts to try to be something he's not—a bee with silver wings and a long stinger—only bring failure. Finally, a trip to the wise Haunchy the Spider brings a change to Squeegy: Haunchy weaves the small bug a pair of beautiful silver wings, and instead of a stinger puts a shining star on Squeegy's own tail, turning the formerly nondescript bug into a firefly. The Little Squeegy Bug also features the artistic talents of illustrator Pat Corrigan, whose artwork a Publishers Weekly contributor praised as "appealingly stylized."

Martin and Sampson's 2000 picture book I Pledge Allegiance is designed to introduce the Pledge to the many U.S. children who recite at the start of each school day. Including an explanation of many of the Pledge's significant words, as well as a history of the oath since its composition by Frances Bellamy, the book "emphasizes the importance" of reciting the Pledge, according to School Library Journal contributor Krista Tokarz.

Sampson once told CA: "During my elementary school years, my first stories were about 'The Hardy Boys' and 'Superman,' while my first publication was a joke published in a national magazine. During the 1980s and 1990s I wrote several books for teachers, including Pathways to Literacy. Finally, in 1996, I came full circle in my writing when The Football That Won . . . was published. The story is based on an experience I had as a seventh-grade football player. Actual experiences continue to guide my writing. Star of the Circus resulted from watching my kindergarten-aged son's classroom circus show. Si Won's Victory is based upon the struggle of a Korean child my son knew in grade school. Swish! was written after watching the drama of a cliffhanger finish to a girls' basketball game."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 1, 2002, Gillian Engberg, review of I Pledge Allegiance, p. 120; September 15, 2002, Stephanie Zvirin, review of Trick or Treat?, p. 246; December 1, 2002, Helen Rosenberg, review of Caddie the Golf Dog, p. 676.

Children's Book Review Service, August, 1996, p. 162.

Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2001, review of Rock It, Sock It, Number Line!, p. 1128; September 1, 2001, review of The Little Squeegy Bug, p. 1297; October 1, 2001, review of Little Granny Quarterback, p. 1428; September 15, 2002, review of Trick or Treat?, p. 1395; September 15, 2002, review of I Pledge Allegiance, p. 1394; October 1, 2002, review of Caddie the Golf Dog, p. 1479.

Publishers Weekly, July 29, 1996, p. 87; September 25, 2000, review of Adam, Adam, What Do You See?, p. 113; August 20, 2001, review of Rock It, Sock It, Number Line!, p. 78; October 1, 2001, review of The Little Squeegy Bug, p. 63; August 26, 2002, review of I Pledge Allegiance, p. 68; .

School Library Journal, October, 1996, p. 105; December, 2000, Patricia Pearl Dole, review of Adam, Adam, What Do You See?, p. 134; December, 2001, Piper L. Nyman, review of Rock It, Sock It, Number Line!, p. 106; December, 2001, Barbara Buckley, review of Little Granny Quarterback, p. 106; October, 2002, John Peters, review of Trick or Treat?, p. 120; December, 2002, Linda Ludke, review of Caddie the Golf Dog, p. 108, and Krista Tokarz, review of I Pledge Allegiance, p. 127.

ONLINE

Michael Sampson Home Page,http://www.michaelsampson.com/ (May 5, 2003).*