Jacqueline Kelly is a New Zealand-born American writer of children's books.

Personal life

Kelly was born in New Zealand and moved with her family to Canada when she was young, then to Texas.^[1] She earned degrees in law and medicine and continues to practice medicine in Austin, Texas.^[2]

Writing career

Kelly's first published story appeared in the Mississippi Review in 2001.^[3]

In 2009 her first novel, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, was published.^[4] It tells the story of a young girl growing up in Texas in 1899, learning what it means to be a woman in turn-of-the-century America, and learning about science and the natural world from her grandfather.^[5] It was a Newbery Honor Book, one runner-up for the annual Newbery Medal.^[6] A follow-up, The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate, was published in 2015 to much acclaim.

Kelly has also written a sequel to The Wind in the Willows called Return to the Willows, published in October 2012.