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, young-reader chapter books, middle-grade novels, and middle-grade nonfiction. Many of her books embrace her passion for STEM in a way that’s accessible and fun for all kids. She likes to think of herself as a story engineer!

As a kid, 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 aims to encourage 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 books, including the middle-grade novels Forever Twelve, 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 is on nineteen state-award reading lists. Her first middle-grade nonfiction, Save the People! Halting Human Extinction was favorably reviewed in the New York Times.

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.

When not writing, Stacy likes to listen to NPR and 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.