About Me
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About Muriel
I was the first child born to Roger and Laurette Major in the mill city of Manchester, New Hampshire. Three brothers and one sister followed. I grew up surrounded by family. We lived in a house that had two apartments. Ours was upstairs and my maternal grandparents lived downstairs. Aunts, uncles and lots of cousins lived within walking distance. There were always plenty of kids to play with!
I started Kindergarten at age five. I’m pretty sure that was the year I thought I’d grow up to be the Easter Bunny.
Our house was crowded: seven people in five little rooms. Learning to read was my great escape. When I was little, our elementary school didn’t have its own library. But the Bookmobile came to our school every other week. I couldn’t wait to get my own library card! The very first book I borrowed was called The Story About Ping. It was about a little duck that lived in China. Years later, I found the book at a used book store and bought it to remind me of my reading journey. It sits on my office shelf—next to My Circus. You can see how the sun has faded some of the cover.
But it was also the year that I “wrote” my first book called My Circus. Each page features a stenciled circus animal that I proudly colored in. I still have it.
At around age 10, my mother would let me to take the bus into the city to our huge, main library. There were two rooms for children and older kids. Picture books were located in one room and chapter books in the other. I loved to borrow big books with lots of chapters. It meant I could get lost in the stories for a longer time. I read and reread about the Black Stallion, Dr. Doolittle, Bambi, and Black Beauty. Later, I followed the adventures of Sue Barton, Student Nurse.
I loved non-fiction books, too. I especially enjoyed learning about insects and had my own little bug zoo in my backyard. I would save my spending money to buy How and Why Books like these:
Books were always so important to me but I never imagined I could be a writer myself. I had never met a writer. Books just seemed to be there. I knew nothing about how they were created.
Instead, when it was time to pick a career, I chose teaching. It was a good choice for me because it was another way to be surrounded by books. As a teacher I read and shared all kinds of great books with my students: Bridge to Terabithia; Mrs. Frisby and The Rats of Nimh; The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle; From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. I loved the Newbery Award winners and began to collect them.
One book, especially, made me think: I’d like to do that! It was Amos Fortune, Free Man. The author, Elizabeth Yates, lived here in New Hampshire. She had written a novel about a real person, a former slave. I wanted to write a story about a real person, too. I joined the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and took workshops and classes, learning how to write not only books, but books specifically for children. I began to research my story and, in the meantime, I wrote and wrote and wrote: church newsletters, magazine articles, local histories.
I met my future husband shortly after I began teaching. We married and had three children of our own. And throughout those years of teaching, marriage, and raising our family, I continued to write.
Finally, in 1994, my first novel was published, Abenaki Captive. It was, like Amos Fortune, a novel based on a real person: Revolutionary War General John Stark. It is based on a true story about his capture, as a young man, while hunting on Native American land with his brother and two other friends. I had learned how to research, how to write, and how books were made.
I have been deeply involved in writing ever since. I’ve written over 40 books for kids and co-authored several more. I’ve also run my own publishing company and edited other people’s books.
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I hope I never have to stop!
PRESS RELEASE
Muriel L. Dubois is the award-winning writer of over 40 books for children and young adults. She was an elementary school teacher for many years. She holds a Master in Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults. Besides writing books for children she has also edited many other works.
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Following her husband’s death in 2003, she started independent book publisher Apprentice Shop Books (ASB) and ran the company for 12 years. ASB focused primarily on non-fiction books for children. During that time, ASB authors won many awards.
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While she has written both fiction and non-fiction, researching and presenting unusual facts to kids is her biggest passion.
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With her three children grown and on their own, Muriel currently lives in Bedford, NH.