Ellen Harvey Showell

IN MY MIND ARE MANY ROOMS--places for play, places for serious thought, places for music. And of course, the doors are always open between. And so, my ghost stories and fantasies for children amuse, I hope, but also reflect serious thought. My adult play about the death penalty faces grim truths, but also reflects the absurdities and saving compassion of human nature. My book about women inventors is meticulous about facts but honors ancient stories of magic.

ROOMS make me think of windows, and the old game in which children hold hands, forming a circle, as one child winds in and out, ducking under as others raise their arms to make an opening. I remember going "in and out the window," as we sang and played at twilight, passing, it seemed, from one world to another. From such memories I bring back the wonder, mystery and sense of possibility that guide my work.

May you find something here that will please and interest you. Again, Welcome!

From Indian Corn to Outer Space...Women Invent in America

Selected by the Women's National Book Association (WNBA) for the list of Books for 21st Century Girls.

The Ghost of Tillie Jean Cassaway

Winner of the South Carolina Children's Book Award


Cecelia and the Blue Mountain Boy

A Parents' Choice Award for Literature in the Field of Social Studies

Listen Here, Women Writing in Appalachia, edited by Sandra L. Ballard and Patricia L. Hudson. The University Press of Kentucky, 2003. Excerpts from Our Mountain.