Mayr, Diane 1949-

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Mayr, Diane 1949-

Personal

Born 1949.

Addresses

Home—NH. E-mail—dianemayr@dianemayr.com.

Career

Writer and librarian. Nesmith Library, Windham, NH, children's librarian, then assistant director and adult-services librarian.

Member

New Hampshire Library Association (former president).

Writings

The Everything Kids' Money Book: From Saving to Spending to Investing, Adams Media (Holbrook, MA), 2000.

Littlebat's Halloween Story, illustrated by Gideon Kendall, Albert Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 2001.

Out and About at the Apple Orchard, illustrated by Anne McMullen, Picture Window Books (Minneapolis, MN), 2003.

North Carolina, Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 2006.

Run, Turkey, Run!, illustrated by Laura Rader, Walker & Company (New York, NY), 2007.

(With others) Women of Granite: Twenty-five New Hampshire Women You Should Know, Apprentice Shop Books (Bedford, NH), 2008.

Contributor or articles, stories, poems, and activities to periodicals, including Writer, Boys' Quest, Ladybug, and Christian Science Monitor.

Sidelights

A librarian and freelance writer, Diane Mayr is the author of such well-received picture books as Littlebat's Halloween Story and Run, Turkey, Run! In the former, a tiny creature enjoys story-time as much the children who visit the library he calls home. From his spot in the attic, Littlebat can hear the librarian read many wonderful tales, but he grows increasingly frustrated because he cannot see the illustrations. Although Littlebat's mother warns him to stay hidden, the tiny bat swoops down one day when he spies a moth on a book's pages, frightening the children nearby. Having learned his lesson, Littlebat waits patiently for the right time to rejoin the group, and when Halloween arrives, he seizes the opportunity. "Children who delight in sharing stories will find kindred spirits here," John Peters noted in Booklist.

Run, Turkey, Run!, another holiday tale, centers on an anxious bird who fears that he will be the main course at Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey tries rolling in the mud, hoping to convince the farmer that he is really a pig, and when that trick fails he begins swimming in order to persuade the farmer that he is actually a duck. Finally fleeing into the forest, Turkey learns that the farm family had other plans for their Thanksgiving feast all along. In Booklist, Julie Cummins remarked that although Mayr's "premise may put kids off eating turkey, they'll gobble up the humor" in her holiday-themed story.

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 1, 2001, John Peters, review of Littlebat's Halloween Story, p. 121; September 15, 2007, Julie Cummins, review of Run, Turkey, Run!, p. 69.

Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2007, review of Run, Turkey, Run!

Publishers Weekly, May 22, 2000, "Everything for Everybody," review of The Everything Kids' Money Book: From Saving to Spending to Investing, p. 95.

School Library Journal, September, 2001, Susan Marie Pitard, review of Littlebat's Halloween Story, p. 199.