Sixth Grade
Worksheets
John Coy
John Coy, born August 9, 1958, is an award-winning author who has written a wide variety of children's books. His books have ranged from picture books for young children to young adult books. Coy held a varied assortment of jobs such as a mattress maker, a dishwasher, a tour guide, and a group home worker. His passion, however, lies in writing and teaching others how to write.
Coy grew up in a teaching family. Both his mother and father were teachers as well as an uncle. His two grandmothers even taught out on the prairie in one-room schoolhouses. According to Coy, "Teachers and teaching were part of the air I breathed." He feels that he learned the gift of teaching through his exposure to the teachers around him. Coy also believes that he was fortunate to have excellent teachers when he attended school, and it was his favorite teachers who encouraged him in his own writing.
Coy received his college education initially at St. John's University, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts. He then moved on to St. Mary's College Graduate Center, earning a Master of Arts. Beginning in 1994, Coy conducted hundreds of weeks of writing programs in schools such as COMPAS, a non-profit school for diverse populations in grades 9-12, and PEN American Center, an association of writers working to advance literature, to defend free expression, and to foster international literary fellowship. In 1996 Coy began teaching adult classes at The Loft Literary Center and at the University of Minnesota on how to write children's picture books. Coy has also developed presentations for parents, teachers, librarians, and administrators on writing children's picture books.
