Kate Messner (born ) is an American children's author. She has written over seventy books, which have sold over five million copies in over a dozen languages. She primarily writes picture books, chapter books, and middle grade novels.
Life Messner was born in 1970 or 1971, and grew up in Medina, New York as the youngest of four children. When growing up, Messner loved "everything by Beverly Cleary", especially the Ramona books.
Messner graduated from Medina High School in 1988. She then went on to attain a bachelor's degree in journalism at Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communications. She worked as an intern at a TV station in the summer following her freshman year. She spent seven years as a TV news reporter and producer, before pursuing a master's degree in education. She spent fifteen years as a middle school English teacher, with her first published books being written during this time. She obtained a National Board Certification in 2006.
She lives on the New York side of Lake Champlain with her family. She has a -year-old son and a -year-old daughter. Her husband is part of a group that offers to help start up businesses in Vermont.
Career Messner started her writing career in 2009 with the middle grade novel The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z, which won an E. B. White Read Aloud Award in 2010. Over the course of her writing career, she has written over seventy books, which have sold over five million copies in over a dozen languages. She won the Empire State Award for Excellence in Literature for Young People in 2022.
In 2011, Messner published the picture book Over and Under the Snow. The book won a Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Text, and was named a Notable Children's Book by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC). It received seven sequels.
In 2016, she published a middle grade novelThe Seventh Wish, which was met with controversy for depicting opioid addiction. The week of its release, she was disinvited from a school talk, had her books sent back from the school, and was told by a librarian at another school that her book would not appear in their collection.In
In 2019, Messner published The Brilliant Deep. The novel was well received by critics. The ALSC named it on their annual list of Notable Children's Books, and it won the year's Green Earth Book Award.
Her 2021 picture book Dr. Fauci, a biography of Anthony Fauci, reached the New York Times Children's Picture Book Best Seller List on July 18, 2021.
She is the head a three-year-long multi-author project titled The Kids of Mrs. Z's Class, an eighteen-book series about the children of one elementary school class. Each author creates a character who would serve as the lead of their book and features as a secondary character in the rest of the books of the series. Messner wrote the first book, Emma McKenna, Full Out, which was released in 2024. She will also write the final book, which has not yet been published.
In 2025, she published The Trouble with Heroes, which she wrote while climbing all 46 Adirondack Mountains over the course of eight years.
In 2026, she published her first graphic novel, Camp Monster, with art by Falynn Koch, who also illustrated five books in Messner's History Smashers series. It is the first in a series.
Works Novels Standalone novels
Silver Jaguar Society Mysteries
Chapter books Marty McGuire
Ranger in Time
The Kids in Mrs. Z's Class
Wildlife Rescue
Picture books Standalone picture books
Over and Under
Easy readers Fergus and Zeke
Nonfiction Standalone nonfiction
Books for teachers
History Smashers
Tracking Animals
Graphic novels
References
External links
Kate Messner My Interview with NYT Bestselling children's Author Kate Messner! E Train Talks: All About Books!, 2025