Kathi Appelt

Kathi Appelt – Life, Career, and Memorable Words

Dive into the life and work of Kathi Appelt — acclaimed American children’s and young adult author. Discover her biography, major works, thematic focus, and inspiring quotes.

Introduction

Kathi Appelt (born July 6, 1954) is an American writer celebrated for her lyrical, emotionally rich books for children and young adults.

Over her decades of writing, Appelt has published more than forty works, spanning novels, picture books, poetry, and nonfiction.

Her sensitivity to nature, memory, family bonds, and the interior lives of animals and people gives her work a characteristic depth and resonance.

Early Life and Education

Kathi Appelt was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina on July 6, 1954.

Soon after, her family moved, spending brief time in North Carolina before relocating to El Paso, Texas, and then eventually settling in Houston, Texas, where she grew up.

In her childhood home, Appelt’s mother used part of their garage’s wall as a kind of creative canvas—dividing it into sections so that she and her sisters could draw or scribble as they wished. Appelt later described this as her earliest “journal wall,” mirroring how she would record her life in writing.

Appelt earned a Bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University (English & Theater Arts) and undertook graduate studies in communication and rhetoric (University of Iowa) and English (Texas A&M).

Career & Major Works

Debut and Breakthrough

Though she wrote for years prior, Appelt’s first middle-grade novel, The Underneath (2008), brought her wide recognition.

The Underneath features intertwined stories of a cat, a dog, and various creatures in a Louisiana–Texas bayou, navigating loss, hope, and resilience.

The novel earned several honors: a PEN USA Award for Children’s Literature, a Newbery Honor, and a National Book Award finalist citation.

Prolific Output & Notable Titles

Kathi Appelt’s oeuvre is diverse. Some highlights include:

• Keeper (2010) — a magical, lyrical middle-grade novel about a girl’s quest to reconnect with her mother.

• The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp (2013) — a fast-paced adventure novel celebrated for its voice and heart.

• Maybe a Fox (2016) — a collaboration with Alison McGhee, mixing realism and poetic lyricism.

• Angel Thieves (2019) — her first young adult novel.

• Numerous picture books and children's works, such as Counting Crows, Max Attacks, Bubba and Beau, Best Friends, and Once Upon a Camel.

Appelt’s books have been translated into multiple languages, including Spanish, Chinese, French, and Swedish.

Teaching & Mentoring

Kathi Appelt has served on the faculty of the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults program, where she is emerita faculty.

She also occasionally teaches creative writing workshops and maintains a presence in writing communities.

She lives in College Station, Texas, with her husband, and has two grown sons.

Themes & Style

Kathi Appelt’s writing is marked by:

• Connection to Nature & Place: Her works often situate characters in richly described landscapes—bayous, forests, marshes—making nature itself a character.

• Emotional Depth & Voice: She gives voice to animals, nature, and marginalized characters, weaving grief, longing, transformation, and love.

• Lyrical, Poetic Prose: Her sentences often carry cadence, metaphor, and sensory imagery.

• Interconnected Stories: Many of her novels feature multiple plotlines or perspectives that converge.

• Themes of Loss, Memory & Redemption: Characters often carry burdens or grief and seek healing or reconciliation.

• Belief in Everyday Wonder: Even ordinary or quiet events are suffused with wonder and meaning in her narratives.

Selected Quotes

Here are a few memorable lines by Kathi Appelt:

• “Purring is not so different from praying. To a tree, a cat's purr is one of the purest of all prayers, for in it lies a whole mixture of gratitude and longing, the twin ingredients of every prayer.”

• “Humans are designed to be with other humans, even those with mixed blood. They need each other's laughter. They require each other's sorrows.”

• “They say that lightning never strikes in the same place twice, but the same is not true for courage. As it turns out, when courage strikes, it almost always begets more courage.”

• “Memory is a slippery thing. When something terrible happens to you, like the loss of someone you love… memory can turn into a soft blanket that hides you from the loss.”

• “At any given time, all of us have an empty spot: one that is calling for companionship, for example, or for justice, love, romance, or a belly laugh. When I sit down to write, I look to see what hole needs filling at that particular moment.”

These express her concern with interior emptiness, longing, and the power of storytelling to fill what is missing.

Legacy & Influence

Kathi Appelt has become a respected name in children’s and young adult literature, known for:

• Bridging poetic sensibility with narrative appeal: She demonstrates that books for younger readers can be artistically ambitious.

• Inspiring new writers: Through her involvement in MFA programs and workshops, she mentors and shapes the next generation of children’s authors.

• Advancing the emotional intelligence of children’s literature: Her work often trusts children with substantial emotional complexity, rather than simplifying pain or grief.

• Crossing genres: She is comfortable writing picture books, novels, and poetry, showing versatility and depth.

Her accolades—Newbery Honor, multiple award wins at regional and national levels, and a strong readership—attest to her influence.

Lessons from Kathi Appelt

From Appelt’s journey and craft, we can draw several inspiring lessons:

1. Start from what you know
   She draws on places, animals, emotions and objects from her own life to build stories — showing that authenticity can fuel imagination.

2. Don’t rush the voice
   Her prose unfolds with care, underscoring that voice and depth often require patience and revision.

3. Writing is a way of seeing
   Appelt herself describes writing as a way to uncover hidden connections around us—“a place for catching thoughts, sometimes dreams.”

4. Embrace multiplicity
   Multiple perspectives, overlapping narratives, and emotional ambiguity make her work richer.

5. Teach & give back
   Her role as mentor and educator underscores that writers contribute not only by producing books but by nurturing others.

Conclusion

Kathi Appelt is an author who invites readers into subtle, luminous worlds. Her stories balance sorrow and beauty, animal and human, memory and possibility. She reminds us that even the quietest corners—underneath a house, along a swamp, in a forest’s breath—hold stories waiting to be told.