Edith Hope Fine

Welcome! Learn more about me and find new ways to dig deeper into my books.

Just Out!
CryptoMania! Teleporting into Greek and Latin with the CryptoKids

Rosa Parks: Meet a Civil Rights Leader

Coming this September: Cricket at the Manger

I’m crazy about books! I grew up reading, starting with comic books like Little Lulu and Scrooge McDuck. I wrote a zany dictionary when I was twelve— inventing words and making up definitions. My mother, who also loved words, typed it for me. She put the pages into a small notebook—that showed me that words are cool and that she valued my ideas.

Today I still read everything I can get my hands on—kids’ books, young adult books, novels, mysteries, newspapers, billboards, cereal boxes . . .

Some books are meant to savor. I read them slowly. Their rhythmic, wondrous sentences beg to be read over and over. Out loud. And sometimes a book is so funny or poignant or moving or ethical that the minute I finish, I’ll go right back to the beginning and start again, this time watching for clues as to how the writer swept me into the story.

After fifteen years of teaching, I started writing seriously in 1980—for newspapers, magazines (both for adults and children). I wrote a weekly newspaper column for 13 years—that cured me of “writer’s block,” for sure. Since 1989, I’ve written 12 books, three of them with colleague Judith Josephson.

When I’m not writing or reading, you’ll find me at the swimming pool or walking, making soup (I love soup), baking, watching old-timey movies, having fun with my family, emailing pals around the country, composting and recycling (I’m so rabid that I’m dubbed “The Recycling Queen”), and working toward fairness and justice for all on this small blue marble we call home.

Want to know more about me? Just go to my Frequently Asked Questions page.

I love to visit schools and often speak at conferences and for groups. Information for scheduling an appearance can be found at my Author Visits and Speaking page.