Allison Crotzer Kimmel
Allison’s writing dream began in fifth grade. The local library had a fiction contest and her teacher encouraged her to enter. She did and won first place, three years in a row. She was on her way, but she hadn’t quite realized just what her writing dream was.
Allison majored in English at Bucknell University because that’s what outwardly serious students with a secret dream of being a writer do. She spent a year abroad at Oxford because her love of British Lit is second only to her love of writing. When she graduated a well-rounded liberal arts scholar, Allison had no clue what she was going to do next.
She moved to California because she’d known since she was thirteen that California is where all dreamers go. She ended up in Bakersfield, CA teaching high school English since teaching runs in her blood (both of her parents are educators). She met a really cute math teacher, who years later became her really handsome husband. But still, something was missing.
Allison earned a Masters in Professional Writing from USC where she studied with well-known writers and spent her time in awe of them wondering where she might fit in the realm of writers.
She graduated, got married, and had a son, and as she started reading children’s books to her baby every day and every night, she finally figured it out- she was meant to be a children’s writer!
Allison found her tribe when she joined SCBWI. Four years later, her first book was published with Capstone Press. She has published three books with Capstone: Prepped and Punked: Bringing 1980s and 1990s Flair to Your Wardrobe; Fact Finders: We Shall Overcome, The Montgomery Bus Boycott; and A Primary Source History of Slavery.
Allison continues to write middle grade fiction and picture books with an emphasis on unsung heroes and heroines history books forgot to mention. She still teaches high school English, and she always takes the good parts, like acting out Lady Macbeth or reading Atticus’ speeches in To Kill a Mockingbird because being the teacher has its perks. She is also the recipient of the Armin R. Schulz Literacy Award for a teacher who uses literature to promote social justice or an author who promotes social justice through literature. She lives in Bakersfield, CA with that handsome math teacher, three cute dogs, and two even cuter children.
Allison has finally figured out writing for kids had been her California dream all along. It only took fifth grade, teaching, two degrees, two kids of her own, and three books to realize it.