Robin McKown (January 27, 1907 — August 1975) was an American writer of

young adult literature Young adult fiction (YA) is a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. While the genre is primarily targeted at adolescents, approximately half of YA readers are adults. The subject matter and genres of YA correlate w ...

, chiefly biography and fiction. During and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, she was chair of an organization that helped the widows and orphans of men who had died fighting for the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

. She received the

Josette Frank Award The Josette Frank Award is an American children's literary award for fiction given annually by the Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College of Education. It "honors a book or books of outstanding literary merit in which children or young peo ...

for ''Janine'' in 1960. The following year she received the Child Study Association Award for the same book.

Personal life and education

Robin McKown was born in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a home rule city that is the county seat and most populous municipality of Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, making it the 12th most populous city in Color ...

. During her childhood in Denver, she was known as Louise and Louisa Clason. Her parents were Anna and

George Samuel Clason George Samuel Clason (November 7, 1874 – April 5, 1957) was an American author. He is most often associated with his book '' The Richest Man in Babylon'' which was first published in 1926. Early life and education Clason was born in Louisia ...

, author and cofounder of the Clason Map Company, who settled in Denver in 1900. Her brother Clyde B. Clason was also an author. McKown earned a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

from the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...

before furthering her studies at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

and the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

. She married Dallas McKown, becoming Robin McKown. She died in August 1975 in Beaver Dams, New York.

Career

She worked in both sales promotion and radio scriptwriting and was the author of a column for the

Book-of-the-Month Club Book of the Month (founded 1926) is a United States subscription-based e-commerce service that offers a selection of five to seven new hardcover books each month to its members. Books are selected and endorsed by a panel of judges, and members c ...

. She was also a literary agent. McKown wrote books for young adults, traveling throughout the United States and to the Congo, South Africa, Peru, Ireland, Italy, Madagasgar, and North Africa for research.

Residency in France

During

, McKown volunteered with an organization that helped the widows and orphans of men who had died fighting for the

, spending six weeks in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

following the Allied victory in 1945. She was the chairman of the organization known at the Friends of Widows and Orphans of the French Resistance following the war. Formally named The National Association of Families of the Shot and Massacred (''Association Nationale des Familles de Fusillés et Massacrés''), it was allied with the American Aid to France. The organization was headquartered in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where McKown lived at the time. Packages of food, clothing, toys and medicine were sent to more than 1,000 survivors. Later, she returned to northeastern France and lived there for three years, an experience that inspired the settings for two of her novels, ''Janine'' and ''Patriot of the Underground''. After France, she returned to New York City.

Bibliography

McKown's published works include biographies of

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

Thomas Paine Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In th ...

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

and

Marie Curie Marie Salomea Skłodowska–Curie ( , , ; born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first ...

and more than 40 works for young adults. With Mary Elting Folsom, she co-authored ''A Mango Homecoming''. Some of her works are:

Nonfiction

* ''Washington's America'' (1961) * ''Pioneers in Mental Health'' (1961) * ''She Lived for Science'' (1961) * ''Benjamin Franklin'' (1963) * ''Giant of the Atom: Ernest Rutherford'' (1963) * ''The Ordeal of Anne Devlin'' (1963) * ''Seven Famous Trials in History'' (1963), with William Sharp * The Fabulous Isotopes (1964), illustrations by Isadore Steinberg * ''Mendeleyev: Father of the Periodic Table'' (1965) * ''The American Revolution: The French Allies'' (1969) * ''The Colonial Conquest of Africa'' (1971) * ''Crisis in South Africa'' (1971) * ''The World of

Mary Cassatt Mary Stevenson Cassatt (; May 22, 1844June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh's North Side), but lived much of her adult life in France, where she befriended Edgar De ...

'' (1972) * ''The Image of Puerto Rico'' (1973) * ''Nkrumah: A Biography'' (1973) * ''Republic of Zaire'' (1973) * ''The Execution of Maximilian: A Hapsburg Emperor Meets Disaster in the New World'' (1973) * ''Mark Twain: Novelist, Humorist, Satirist, Grassroots Historian, and America's Unpaid Goodwill Ambassador at Large'' (1974) * ''The Opium War in China: 1840-1842'' (1975) * ''The Resignation of Nixon: A Discredited President Gives Up the Nation's Highest Office'' (1975)

Fiction

* ''Author's Agent'' (1957) * ''Publicity Girl'' (1958) * ''Foreign Service Girl'' (1960) * ''Patriot of the Underground'' (1964) * ''Rakoto and the Drongo Bird'' (1966) * ''Janine'' (1967) * ''The Boy Who Woke Up in Madagascar'' (1967) * ''Girl of Madagascar'' (1968)

Legacy

McKown's work was compared to that of Horatio Alger known for his contribution to

. She was noted for her book ''Giant of the Atom: Ernest Rutherford'' (1963) written in a "delightful humorous manner" that did not require a comprehensive background in physics to understand.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McKown, Robin 20th-century American women writers American women biographers American historical fiction writers American non-fiction writers American writers of young adult literature People from Denver 1907 births 1975 deaths