Mary Morton Cowan
Mary Morton Cowan writes for young readers. Her most recent book is an updated edition of Timberrr! A History of Logging in New England, addressing current issues and future concerns for the forest, as well as the history of the lumber trade.
Her two biographies have won national awards. Cyrus Field’s Big Dream: The Daring Effort to Lay the First Transatlantic Telegraph Cable tells the riveting story of Cyrus Field’s dream to connect North America and Europe by underwater cable and his relentless courage to pursue it, resulting in one of the greatest achievements of the nineteenth century. It was chosen a 2019 Best STEM Book by the National Science Teachers Association, and is a Junior Library Guild selection. Captain Mac: the Life of Donald Baxter MacMillan, Arctic Explorer, won a National Outdoor Book Award and other honors and is recommended by the National Science Teachers Association. The adventurous story relates MacMillan’s fifty years of exploration, including expeditions aboard his Arctic schooner, Bowdoin.
The first edition of Timberrr…A History of Logging in New England won Maine Library Association’s Lupine Honor Award in 2003. She has written two historical novels. Trouble in Nathan’s Woods depicts life in a lumber camp during the First World War. Ice Country is a teenager’s sailing adventure to the Arctic with Donald MacMillan. Mary’s articles and stories have been published in nearly one hundred issues of children’s magazines, including Highlights for Children and Cobblestone. Several have been reprinted in textbooks and anthologies, some are included in reading comprehension programs for standardized tests, and a few are online. Two stories are available as audio books and two plays have been republished as Readers' Theater books, for grades 4-8.
A native Mainer, Mary earned a BA in English literature from Bates College, and has taken numerous courses, seminars, and workshops in children’s writing and literature. She visits schools, conducts writing workshops, and speaks to a variety of community groups.