Lola M. Schaefer

Georgia Connections

• Dawsonville, Dawson County

Notes of Interest

Lola M. Schaefer is the award-winning author of dozens of books for children. In 2010, her book for early readers "Mittens" was chosen for inclusion on the Georgia Center for the Book's inaugural list of "25 Books All Young Georgians Should Read."

Her book "Frankie Stein" won the 2008 Children's Choice Book Award, and a number of her other titles have been recognized by educators and librarians. She also has published 12 Professional Resource books with Scholastic that assist teachers with writing instruction in elementary and middle school classrooms. A frequent presenter in schools, she makes her home in Dawsonville.

Lola M. Schaefer was born July 23, 1950, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She writes that "Both of my parents read to me from an early age, and I quickly became an avid reader of biographies, science books and fiction, especially adventure stories." She did not write any poetry or fiction in school, however, "and the only writing I knew was reports: reports on dead presidents, dead explorers, dead inventors. I never met an author or heard one speak. It never occurred to me I might enjoy writing or one day become an author myself."

She received her BS in Education from Indiana University in 1972 and her MS in Education from Indiana in 1984. She taught grades K-5 and 7 during more than 18 years as a classroom teacher. Since 1998 she has been a national writing consultant, working in classrooms in grades K-8. From 2002-2005, she was an associate professor at Indiana-Purdue University at Fort Wayne, offering graduate classes on writing instruction in elementary grades.

Her first two books, "Turtle Nest" and "Candlelight Service," were published in 1996, followed by "Red-Tailed Hawk" in 1999 and by "Baron, Rescue Dog" and "This is the Sunflower," both in 2000. Her most recently published books are "Boo Who?" released in 2009 and "Writing Lessons for the Interractive Whiteboard," also completed in 2009.

Further Reading

Author's Web Page