American author Tony Johnston was born on Jan. 30, 1942, in Los Angeles. According to Tony, she was named for the cowboy Tom Mix’s horse. She grew up in San Marino, Calif. and loved reading as a child.
Tony graduated from Stanford University in 1963 with a B.A. degree in history and in 1964 with her Master’s in education. While teaching fourth grade in California and writing stories for her students, she decided to try to get them published.
In 1966, she married a banker ,Roger Johnston, and moved to New York where his job took them. She met people there who gave her more encouragement to continue writing, and one editor liked her book “Five Little Foxes and the Snow,” even though it was not published at that time.
Her husband’s job moved them to Mexico City for the next 15 years, and in 1970, her first book, “The Adventures of Mole and Troll,” was published.
In 1985, the family (Tony, Roger, their three daughters, Jenny, Samantha and Ashley and their dog, Suzi) moved back to San Marino, Calif. and Tony continued to write. She also worked in children’s bookstores, taught a course on picture book writing at UCLA and studied poetry writing for children.
She has written over 120 books, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, picture books, early readers, young adult and older reader titles, and has won several awards for her books. Her hobbies include archaeology, collecting Indian belts, children’s books and book art and western history (especially California).
We have two of her B-2 books, “The Quilt Story” and “Four Scary Stories.”
Themes from the Library calendar for February include American Heart Month, Bird-Feeding Month, Black History Month, Dental Health Month, International Friendship Month and Library Lovers Month.
