Banks, Katherine (1960 - )

Genre: Children's Literature, Young Adult

Katherine Anne (Kate) Banks was born (13 Feb. 1960) and grew up in Maine, graduating from Brewer High School. She received her B.A. from Wellesley College and a Master's in history from Columbia University. In the 1980s, she worked for several years as an assistant to Frances Foster in children's books at Alfred A. Knopf.

Banks lived in Rome for eight years and now lives with her family in southern France.

In a 2002 interview with Banks conducted by The Cooperative Children's Book Center, Banks mentions that she:

"...grew up in Maine on the coast. Robert McCloskey was and still is one of my all time favorites. I still cherish A Time of Wonder which captures so effortlessly and beautifully in both words and watercolors a coming storm. Then there is Margaret Wise Brown who to my mind, was unique in her ability to relate to children and express their thoughts and visions through well chosen and organized words -- to invoke wonder at the most simple of things, which is really what life is all about."

Selected Bibliography

  • Alphabet Soup (1988; ill. Peter Sis)
  • Big, Bigger, Biggest Adventure (1990; ill. Paul Yalowitz)
  • The Bunnysitters (1991; ill. Blanche Sims)
  • Baboon (1997; ill. Georg Hallensleben)
  • And If The Moon Could Talk (1998; ill. Georg Hallensleben), won the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award
  • The Bird, the Monkey, and the Snake in the Jungle (1999/2003; ill. Tomek Bogacki)
  • Howie Bowles, Secret Agent (1999; ill. Isaac Millman)
  • The Night Worker (2000; ill. Georg Hallensleben), won the 2001 Charlotte Zolotow Award for outstanding writing in a picture book.
  • A Gift from the Sea (2001; ill. Georg Hallensleben)
  • Dillon Dillon (2002), a young adult book
  • The Turtle and the Hippopotamus (2002; ill. Tomek Bogacki)
  • Walk Softly, Rachel (2003)
  • The Cat Who Walked Across France (2004; ill. Georg Hallensleben)
  • Fox (2007; illus. Georg Hallensleben)
  • Lenny's Space (2007), young adult
  • Max's Dragon (2008; illus. Boris Kulikov)

Selected Resources