Kenda, Margaret 1942-

PERSONAL:

Born November 1, 1942, in Indianapolis, IN; daughter of John I. (a business manager) and Margaret (a teacher; maiden name, Grable) Mason; married William Kenda (a business manager), September 8, 1962; children: John, Ann, Mary. Education:Northwestern University, B.S.Ed., 1964;University of Iowa, M.A., 1965, Ph.D., 1971. Politics:Democrat. Religion: Unitarian.

ADDRESSES:

Home—68 Forest St., Sudbury, MA 01776. Office—Barron's, 250 Wireless Rd., Hauppauge, NY 11788. Agent—c/o Author Mail, McGraw-Hill Companies, P.O. Box 182604, Columbus, OH 43272. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Author and educator. University of Maine, Orono, professor of English, 1967-77; documentary filmmaker.

MEMBER:

Authors Guild, PEN, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

WRITINGS:

WITH PHYLLIS S. WILLIAMS

The Natural Baby Food Cookbook, Nash (Los Angeles, CA), 1972, updated edtition, Avon (New York, NY), 1982.

Cooking Wizardry for Kids, Barron's (New York, NY), 1990.

Science Wizardry for Kids, Barron's (Hauppauge, NY), 1992.

Math Wizardry for Kids, Barron's (Hauppauge, NY), 1995.

Geography Wizardry for Kids, Barron's (Hauppauge, NY), 1997.

OTHER

Crime Prevention Manual for Business Owners and Managers, American Management (New York, NY), 1982.

(With Robert K. Ullman and husband, William Kenda)Word Wizardry, Barron's (Hauppauge, NY), 1999.

Whole Foods for Babies & Toddlers, La Leche League International (Schaumburg, IL), 2001.

Big Book of Cool Inventions: 77 Inventions, Experiments, and Mind-Bending Games, Econo-Clad Books (Minneapolis, MN), 2001.

SIDELIGHTS:

Margaret Kenda has written bestselling books for and about children. The Natural Baby Food Cookbook has sold over a half-million copies alone, while her books explaining mathematics, geography, and science to young readers have sold hundreds of thousands of copies.

Kenda's coauthored The Natural Baby Food Cookbookand solo-project Whole Foods for Babies and Toddlersexplore how new mothers can feed their children healthier foods than those usually offered in stores. Recipes to make your own dishes, and ways of preparing foods for vegetarian, low-sugar, or allergy-sensitive diets, are offered.

Cooking Wizardry for Kids, which Kenda wrote with Phyllis S. Williams, introduces young readers to healthy cooking with recipes that are both nutritious and fun to make. With names like "Dancing Blueberries" and "Elephant Ears," the recipes in this book are designed to appeal to kids, while several experiments with food provide them with valuable learning experiences. Susan Toepfer, in People, suggested that "the parents of young cooks may learn as much as their children."

Science Wizardry for Kids, also written with Williams, contains easy-to-do, child-friendly experiments that explore concepts in chemistry, astronomy, and physics. They range from simple chemical experiments to tasks such as building a birdhouse or studying the stars. Steven Engelfried, writing in School Library Journal,called the book "intriguing" and explained that the activities in the book include "clear instructions that neatly tie the expected results in with the scientific principles they demonstrate."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklinks, November, 2003, Suzanne Sherman, review of Science Wizardry for Kids, p. 61.

Children's Bookwatch, March, 1996, review of Math Wizardry for Kids, p. 7.

Library Talk, March, 1991, review of Cooking Wizardry for Kids, p. 20.

Parents, October, 1993, review of Science Wizardry for Kids, p. 90.

People, December 10, 1990, Susan Toepfer, review ofCooking Wizardry for Kids, p. 34.

School Library Journal, March, 1991, Carolyn Jenks, review of Cooking Wizardry for Kids, p. 205; May, 1993, Steven Engelfried, review of Science Wizardry for Kids, p. 116.