Biography

Stacy McAnulty is an award-winning children’s book author, who used to be a mechanical engineer and still dreams of being an astronaut. She writes fiction and nonfiction picture books, early chapter books, middle-grade novels and nonfiction. She’s authored over thirty-five books, most of which embrace her passion for STEM. She writes about math and science in a way that’s accessible and entertaining for all readers. Stacy thinks of herself as a story engineer—creating fun and intelligent books for fun and intelligent kids.

As a child, Stacy struggled with reading and, thus, did not enjoy it. She used to “fake read” by counting the words in books instead of actually reading them. Though reading was difficult, she always loved stories and would beg her older sister to recap the novels she’d read. Now, when Stacy talks to kids at schools, she encourages the “struggling readers” not to give up because there’s a world of stories waiting for them. And every kid loves a good story.

Stacy has authored over thirty-five books, including the middle-grade novels Forever Twelve, Never Thirteen, Millionaires for the Month, the winner of four state awards, and The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl, which was a Junior Library Guild Selection, a summer “Indie Kids Next List” pick, and winner of the Mathical Book Prize. It was also selected as a ‘Best Book’ of the year by Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Kirkus, and Parents Magazine, was an NPR ‘Great Read,’ and was on nineteen state-award reading lists. Her middle-grade nonfiction, Save the People! Halting Human Extinction was favorably reviewed in The New York Times, and Where are the Aliens? The Search for Life Beyond Earth was a SIBA Award finalist.

Stacy’s picture book, Our Planet! There’s No Place Like Earth, won the SCBWI Golden Kite Award, and Stacy also received the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Honor for her picture book Excellent Ed and the Irma Black Honor for Sun! One in a Billion. Her other picture books include Beautiful, Brave, A Small Kindness, Max Explains Everything: Puppy Expert, Brains! Not Just a Zombie Snack, and titles in the ever-expanding Our Universe series, such as Earth! My First 4.54 Billion Years, Pluto! Not a Planet? Not a Problem!, and Moon! Earth’s Best Friend. (Obviously, Stacy likes to use exclamation points in her titles.) She’s also the author of The Dino Files, an illustrated chapter book series. In 2025, she will have a picture book that’s part of the Marvel Universe—more details to come.

When not writing, Stacy likes to listen to NPR or 80’s music, cuddle with dogs, bake triple-chocolate cupcakes, and eat triple-chocolate cupcakes. Originally from upstate New York, she now lives in North Carolina with her husband, three human children, and three canine children.