Born: 1952
Ohio connection: Birth
Cleveland
Tony Abbott was born in Cleveland, Ohio. The son of teachers, when he was eight, his family relocated to Fairfield, Connecticut, where his father became a university professor of American history. Abbott graduated from the University of Connecticut with a degree in English Literature. Reading bedtime stories to his children inspired him to write children’s books. A prolific author, Abbott has written several fantasy-adventure and mystery series for children that include: Danger Guys, Time Surfers, The Secrets of Droon, and Copernicus Legacy. Some of his stand alone novels include: Junk Boy, The Great Jeff, Denis Ever After, The Summer of Owen Todd, Lunch-Box Dream, The Postcard, and Firegirl. Abbott has written over 106 books for children and his work has garnered critical praise for their intriguing settings, action-packed plots with believable characters who recognize the importance of reading.
Works
Awards: Golden Kite Award for fiction, Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, 2007, for Firegirl; the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best juvenile novel, Mystery Writers of America, 2009, for The Postcard; Horace Mann Upstanders Award, Antioch University, 2018, for The Summer of Owen Todd.
Additional Resources
For more than 30 years Tony Abbott has been delighting young readers with his tales of adventure, fantasy and mystery. Learn more about this prolific author by exploring the resources listed below.
tonyabbottbooks.com. Abbott’s official website where you’ll find additional information about the author, including news of upcoming books and visits.
“The Writing Child.” What significance does The Wind in the Willows, Jimi Hendrix, Nicolaus Copernicus, geometry, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Franz Kafka, Emmet Till, and ISIS have for a writer of children’s books? In his keynote address for Collaborative for Equity in Literacy Learning at Mount Saint Mary College on May 12, 2015, Tony Abbott talks of his life and the importance of the “impulse to write” in engaging a reader.