Author Spotlight: Barbara Jean Hicks - ALSC Blog

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Barbara Jean Hicks is the author of the 2006 ALSC Notable Children’s Book, Jitterbug Jam: A Monster Tale (Farrar, Straus and Giroux). Barbara lives in Oxnard, California. What is your personal history and how has it informed your work? I grew up in a small farming community in Washington State, the middle of seven children. My parents (who’ve been married 67 years and still live on their own) didn’t have a lot in worldly goods. Nine of us, for example, lived in a two-bedroom, one bath house. Honestly, I didn’t realize how poor we were until long after I went away to college. Our home life was secure and happy, filled with books, music, pets, and projects. We rented a tent-trailer in the summer and went on vacations together. When I was in high school, we even built a house together. (I remember helping mix concrete for the foundation and