Rebecca Behrens: Author

Long story made short:
Rebecca Behrens lives and writes in New York City, where she also works as a copy editor. She is the author of When Audrey Met Alice, which BookPage called “a terrific work of blended realistic and historical fiction;” Summer of Lost and Found, which School Library Journal praised for its “deft writing;” and The Last Grand Adventure, which Kirkus recommends as “a quirky, heart-rending journey.” Her latest, The Disaster Days, is a realistic survival story that Booklist called “a tense, honest tale of bravery,” and it is a Junior Library Guild selection. Some of Rebecca’s favorite things are: the beach, history, running, nature, doughnuts, and laughing.

Long story made even longer:
Born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin, Rebecca developed an early appreciation for politics and dairy products. She headed to Chicagoland to attend Northwestern University, where she studied Don Quijote and once danced for thirty hours without stopping. Then she packed her books into a Budget truck and headed for NYC to start grad school. Rebecca eventually earned a master’s degree in comparative literature. (Eventually being the operative word.)

Before and during college, Rebecca worked as a pet-sitter, baby-watcher, clothes-folder, shoe-seller, custard-scooper, photo-developer, ticket-seller, book-stocker, and restaurant-hoster. Post college, she’s mostly worked as a book-maker. She’s edited and copyedited everything from literature textbooks to Mad Libs!

Having all that employment experience, Rebecca can say with some authority that writing is the best kind of work. Her debut novel, When Audrey Met Alice, was published by Sourcebooks in 2014 and the New York Times called it “an entertaining middle-grade romp.” Her second middle-grade novel, Summer of Lost and Found, was published by Aladdin/Simon & Schuster in 2016, and Kirkus praised it as “a good find indeed.” Her historical middle-grade novel, The Last Grand Adventure, was published by Aladdin/Simon & Schuster in 2018, and School Library Journal called it a “heartfelt tale of discovery and hope.” Rebecca’s short fiction has appeared in Scholastic Storyworks and Scope. Her latest middle-grade novel, The Disaster Days, is a Junior Library Guild Selection that Booklist called a “tense, honest tale of bravery.” Look for her next book, Alone in the Woods, in October 2020.

When she’s not reading or writing (which is how she spends most of her time), Rebecca’s probably daydreaming in the park, watching her husband act, balancing on one leg in a yoga class, or baking a treat. Someday she would like to open her own doughnut-and-pie emporium, just so she can add “doughnut-maker” to her résumé.

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