Audrey Penn

Audrey Penn is an American children's writer. She is best known for writing The Kissing Hand, a picture book featuring anthropomorphic raccoons.

Biography

Audrey Penn grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland. Audrey Penn didn’t start off her career as a writer. Penn, in the 1970s, was a ballerina dancer dancing for the New York City Ballet, Danny Diamond Dance Theatre, Stuttgart Ballet, and the National Ballet. Between 1973 and 1976 she was an alignist and choreographer for the US Figure Skating team for the Pan American Games and the 1976 Olympic Gymnastics Team. Penn's first book was Happy Apple Told Me. In 1980, after developing Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, Penn was too ill to continue with ballet. Due to many painful surgeries and not being able to walk for weeks led her to write more books like Blue Out of Season and No Bones About Driftiss. Penn currently resides in Maryland with her husband and their two children.

Awards

Audrey Penn's first book written in 1975, Happy Apple Told Me, won the Midstate Library Association Award and was nominated for the Caldecott Medal Award. Penn's second book, Blue Out of Season, won the Mid-State Library Association Award and Very Special Arts Recognition Award. Her best known book, The Kissing Hand, was the New York Times number one best seller and won the Distinguished Achievement Award for Excellence in Educational Journalism. In 2004, A Pocket Full of Kisses also was on the New York Times number one best seller. (Retrieved from Audrey Penn's Official Website)A New York Times best seller.