Kelly Milner Halls is a full-time freelance writer and reviewer specializing in children's nonfiction, YA literature and writing about writing. She has eleven books in print and three more under contract. For twelve years, her work has appeared in dozens of magazines and newspapers including Writer's Digest, Booklist, Book Magazine, Book Links, BookPage, VOYA, Teen PEOPLE, Family Fun, Parenting Teens, New Jersey Monthly, Wyoming Magazine, Highlights for Children, Boy's Life, Fox Kids, Dig, ASK, Hullabaloo, Guidepost for Kids, Guidepost for Teens, US Kids, Dinosaurus, Kid City, Child Life, Children's Digest, Humpty Dumpty, Curiocity, the Denver Post, the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Spokesman Review and others.
Halls has interviewed dozens of prominent authors including Tom Clancy, James Patterson, Chris Crutcher, Bruce Coville, Lurlene McDaniels, Catherine Ryan Hyde, Kenny Rogers, Linda Ellerbee, Tomie dePaola, Eric Carle, William Joyce, David Carter, Aliki, Steven Kellogg, Jerry Spinelli, and others.
Halls' freelance career has been profiled in both WRITER'S MARKET and CHILDREN'S WRITER'S AND ILLUSTRATOR'S MARKET. Her bylined reports regularly appear in both publications. She was a contributor for the most recent edition of the critically acclaimed ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO CHILDREN'S BOOKS AND THEIR CREATORS (2003) edited by Anita Silvey and the revised 2004 edition of THE CONTINUUM ENCYCLOPEDIA OF YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE edited by Bernice Cullinan and Bonnie Kunzel.
For four years, Halls published a monthly column on the business of children's writing for AOL's Writer's Club. She was the executive editor for Kids Reads, part of the BookReporter Network for almost two years and is currently a contributing editor at SmartWriters.com. Other online sources to feature her work include Salon.com, BookReporter.com, KidsHealth.org, Freezone.com, iUniverse.com, CyberTeens.com, MommyTips.com, About.com and TeenReads.com.
She lives in Spokane, Washington with two daughters, three dogs and way too many cats. She co-chairs the Spokane Network of the Washington/Northern Idaho SCBWI chapter.
Awards and Special Professional Achievements
Lamplighter Award Nominee 2006/2007 -- Albino Animals
Children's Choice, 2006 -- Wild Dogs
Benjamin Franlin Award, 2006 -- Wild Dogs
Conservation Book of the Year, 2005 -- Wild Dogs
Orbis Pictus Recommended 2006 -- Wild Dogs
ASPCA Henry Bergh Award Nominee, 2006 -- Wild Dogs
Benjamin Franklin Award, 2005 -- Albino Animals
Orbis Pictus Recommended, 2005 -- Albino Animals
VOYA Honor List 2004 -- Dinosaur Mummies
Booklist 2003 Top Ten Science Book for Young Readers -- Dinosaur Mummies
National Science Teachers Association Recommended Book -- Dinosaur Mummies
Booklist Starred Review -- Dinosaur Mummies
Junior Library Guild Premier Selection, 2003 -- Dinosaur Mummies
Ed Press Finalist, June 2000 -- Materialism Bug, GP4K
Ed Press Finalist, Archaeology's DIG, June 2000
The Book Report/Kids Reads Executive Editor -- 14 months
American Bookseller Pick of the List -- Dino Trekking
Highlights Best Science Feature of 1995 Award
Highlights Best Nonfiction Feature Award, April 1996
Archaeology's Dig, Contributing Editor
Dinosaurus Magazine, Senior Contributing Editor
Dino Times, Contributing Editor
US Kids -- Seventeen cover stories from 1996 to 1998
Books in Print (14)
Dino Trekking (Wiley) OOP
Kids Go! Denver (Avalon)
I Bought a Baby Chicken (Boyds Mills Press)
365After School Activities (PIL)
365 Outdoor Activities (PIL)
365 Projects for Pennies (PIL)
365 Things to do on a Saturday (PIL)
Look What You Can Make with Craft Sticks (Boyds Mills Press)
Look What You Can Make with Foam Trays (Boyds Mills Press)
Dinosaur Mummies (Darby Creek)
Albino Animals (Darby Creek)
Wild Dogs (Darby Creek)
The Random House Dinosaur Travel Guide (Random House)
Tales of the Cryptids (Darby Creek)
Books Under Contract
Boy Meets Girl, Girl Meets Boy (Roaring Brook)
Kid Mummy Mysteries (Darby Creek)
Dinosaur Parade (TBA)
History of Dinosaur Models (Boyds Mills Press)
