south hillsborough Library
south hillsborough Library
Award-winning author Kate Messner visited South on Friday, September 1, 2017. Second through fifth grade students attended the 10:15 assembly. South students had the opportunity to pre-order three of her chapter books (Ranger in Time: Escape From the Great Earthquake, All the Answers, and Capture the Flag) and two of her picture books (Rolling Thunder and How to Read a Story).
Ms. Messner writes chapter books, picture books, and easy to read books for children, and she has traveled around the world to talk to students about her novels. She won the EB White Read Aloud Award for Older Readers for her novel The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z, and she won the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award for her novel Capture the Flag.
During the assembly, Ms. Messner talked about her Ranger in Time series, where a golden retriever goes back in time with a magic first aid kit to help those in need, particularly the research she does for the story’s setting. Kate Messner said she loves the research process (reading books, looking on the Internet, and traveling to the location where her story is set) because she loves history and learning about the lives of people from the past. There are currently six Ranger in Time stories, with four more on the way. The Ranger in Time stories have been set in ancient Rome, at the South Pole, and even in San Francisco during the 1906 earthquake. She also talked about how she worked with real rescue dogs to understand their capabilities in order to make her stories as accurate and realistic as possible.
Prior to becoming an author, Ms. Messner was a middle school teacher for 15 years, earning her National Board Certification in 2006. She currently lives on Lake Champlain with her family and enjoys spending time outside, whether it’s kayaking in the summer or skating on the frozen lake when the temperatures drop.
To learn more about Kate Messner and her stories, visit her website at
Kate Messner--Author, Teacher, and Literary Superstar
Friday, June 30, 2017