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Katherine

Roy

Author & Illustrator of Children’s Books
Science-Based Writer
Travels from: Portland, OR

“Exceptional and arresting… Roy holds readers’ attention with her approachable writing style and astonishing statistics.”—Booklist

Katherine Roy is the award-winning author and illustrator of many science-based books for kids, including her Robert F. Sibert Honor Book Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting with the Great Whites of California’s Farallon Islands,and How to Be an Elephant: Growing Up in the African Wild. She is also the illustrator of numerous other books, including Barb Rosenstock’s Otis and Will Discover the Deep, Richard Ho’s Red Rover, and Kirsten W. Larson’s The Fire of Stars. She lives with her husband and sons in western Oregon.

Her most recent release, Making More, is a groundbreaking book that explains and demystifies how everything from fish to mammals and plants to insects reproduce. Katherine distills the science of reproduction into its simplest components: organisms must meet, merge their DNA, and grow new individuals; and she thoughtfully highlights the astonishing variety of this process with examples from across the natural world, from plants to insects to fish, birds, mammals, and more. Lucid, informed, and illuminated by beautiful paintings, Making More weaves a story that seamlessly explains life’s most fundamental process, answers children’s questions, and provides an essential tool for parents, caregivers, and educators.

Katherine's Featured Titles

Making More: How Life Begins

Norton Young Readers |
Picture Book

This groundbreaking book from award-winner Katherine Roy explains and demystifies how everything from fish to mammals and plants to insects reproduce.

From fish to mammals and plants to insects, every organism on Earth must reproduce, and the survival of each species—and of life itself—depends on this and on the diversity it creates. In this groundbreaking book, Katherine Roy distills the science of reproduction into its simplest components: organisms must meet, merge their DNA, and grow new individuals; and she thoughtfully highlights the astonishing variety of this process with examples from across the natural world, from plants to insects to fish, birds, mammals, and more.

Lucid, informed, and illuminated by beautiful paintings, Making More weaves a story that seamlessly explains life’s most fundamental process, answers children’s questions, and provides an essential tool for parents, caregivers, and educators.

The Fire Of Stars: The Life and Brilliance of the Woman Who Discovered What Stars Are Made Of

Chronicle Books |
Picture Book

Astronomer and astrophysicist Cecilia Payne was the first person to discover what burns at the heart of stars. But she didn’t start out as the groundbreaking scientist she would eventually become. She started out as a girl full of curiosity, hoping one day to unlock the mysteries of the universe.

With lyrical, evocative text by Kirsten W. Larson and extraordinary illustrations by award-winning illustrator Katherine Roy, this moving biography powerfully parallels the kindling of Cecilia Payne’s own curiosity and her scientific career with the process of a star’s birth, from mere possibility in an expanse of space to an eventual, breathtaking explosion of light.

WOMEN IN STEM CAN CHANGE HISTORY: With women making up less than 30 percent of the science and engineering workforce, supporting young girls who are interested in STEM fields is more important than ever! This picture book tells the story of Cecilia Payne, a trailblazing female astronomer and role model for young girls to relate to and see themselves in, from even the youngest age.

LOOK TO THE STARS: Any reader or stargazer who feels dazzled by the striking night sky will be enchanted by this true story of discovery and invention, as Cecilia’s contributions to science prompt us to wonder: What else is out there?

Red Rover: Curiosity on Mars

Roaring Brook Press |
Picture Book

Red Rover is a gorgeously illustrated tale that explores the vast, inhospitable landscape of Mars and the adventures of the little rover that calls the planet its home.

Mars has a visitor.

It likes to roam…

observe…

measure…

and collect.

It explores the red landscape—
crossing plains, climbing hills,
and tracing the bottoms of
craters—in search of water
and life.

It is not the first to visit Mars.

It will not be the last.

But it might be…
the most curious.

Join Curiosity on its journey across the red planet in this innovative and dynamic nonfiction picture book by Richard Ho, illustrated by Sibert Honor winner Katherine Roy.

This title has Common Core connections.

Otis And Will Discover The Deep: The Record-Setting Dive of the Bathysphere

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers |
Picture Book
The suspenseful, little-known true story of two determined pioneers who made the first dive into the deep ocean.

On June 6, 1930, engineer Otis Barton and explorer Will Beebe dove into the ocean inside a hollow metal ball of their own invention called the Bathysphere.

They knew dozens of things might go wrong. A tiny leak could shoot pressurized water straight through the men like bullets! A single spark could cause their oxygen tanks to explode! No one had ever dived lower than a few hundred feet…and come back. But Otis and Will were determined to become the first people to see what the deep ocean looks like.

This suspenseful story from acclaimed author Barb Rosenstock with mesmerizing watercolors by award-winning artist Katherine Roy will put you right in the middle of the spine-tingling, record-setting journey down, down into the deep.

How To Be An Elephant

David Macaulay Studio |
Picture Book

The savanna is not an easy place to live, even for African elephants, the largest land animals on earth. If it’s a challenge for these 7,000-pound giants, what’s it like for their newborn babies?

An infant elephant has precious little time to learn the incredible array of skills that are necessary to keep up, from projecting her voice across a 10-octave range to using the 100,000 muscles in her trunk to stay hydrated. But this giant-to-be has the perfect classroom–a family herd made up of her mother, sisters, cousins, and aunts. With their help and protection, she’ll learn how to survive, how to thrive, and how to be an elephant.

Award-winning author-illustrator Katherine Roy’s How to Be an Elephant delves into the intricate family dynamics at play in a typical African herd. Drawing upon the latest scientific research and Roy’s own expedition to Kenya, and brimming with lush watercolor illustrations and detailed diagrams, this book vividly portrays the life and development of an elephant from an uncertain newborn into a majestic adult. As informative as it is beautiful, Roy’s unique portrait of an elephant’s life will captivate young explorers and animal lovers alike.

This title has Common Core connections.

Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting with the Great Whites of California’s Farallon Islands

David Macaulay Studio |
Picture Book

Up close with the ocean’s most fearsome and famous predator and the scientists who study them-just twenty-six miles from the Golden Gate Bridge!

A few miles from San Francisco lives a population of the ocean’s largest and most famous predators. Each fall, while the city’s inhabitants dine on steaks, salads, and sandwiches, the great white sharks return to California’s Farallon Islands to dine on their favorite meal: the seals that live on the island’s rocky coasts. Massive, fast, and perfectly adapted to hunting after 11 million years of evolution, the great whites are among the planet’s most fearsome, fascinating, and least understood animals.

In the fall of 2012, Katherine Roy visited the Farallons with the scientists who study the islands’ shark population. She witnessed seal attacks, observed sharks being tagged in the wild, and got an up close look at the dramatic Farallons-a wildlife refuge that is strictly off-limits to all but the scientists who work there. Neighborhood Sharks is an intimate portrait of the life cycle, biology, and habitat of the great white shark, based on the latest research and an up-close visit with these amazing animals.

This title has Common Core connections.

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Coming Soon!

PHaEDRA Fall Author Series #1, Kirsten Larson and Katherine Roy

Red Rover Read Aloud

Elephant Book Cover Time-Lapse Drawing

Books To Treasure 2022 with author/illustrator Katherine Roy

Farallon Islands Time-Lapse Drawing

Katherine Roy’s Blog

Neighborhood Sharks – Core Curriculum Guide

How to Be an Elephant – Core Curriculum Guide

Otis and Will Discover the Deep – Curriculum Guide

Honors, Awards & Recognition

Tulsa Books to Treasure – Featured Author

Media clips

Coming soon!

Media Kit

By clicking the link below you will be directed to a Google Docs Folder
where you can download author photos and cover images.

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