Children’s author Katey Howes, whose picture books often focused on STEM/STEAM themes, creativity, and individualism, died suddenly on May 20 in Langhorne, Pa. She was 47.
Kathryn “Katey” Howes was born in February 1977 in Dearborn, Mich., and grew up near Kalamazoo. From an early age, she gravitated toward reading and writing. “It’s possible I spent my whole life preparing to write for children, and just didn’t realize it,” she told KidLit411.
“I was the kid who checked out so many books at the library, I had to pull them home in a wagon. I made up plays and acted out stories with friends, and I spent summer nights at Girl Scout camp reading Nancy Drew or The Phantom Tollbooth by flashlight.”
Howes was accepted to a magnet high school for students gifted in math and science—Kalamazoo Area Math and Science Center—which “other kids sometimes referred to as ‘Nerd School,’ ” she told KidLit411. She praised KAMSC for its long tradition of supporting and encouraging young women to go into STEM careers, and noted that her positive experience there helped “shape my worldview and self-image.” While at KAMSC, she had the opportunity to do some job shadowing and was introduced to the physical therapy profession.
In 1995, Howes’s interest in PT prompted her to enroll in St. Louis University’s accelerated physical therapy program, receiving her undergraduate degree from the school’s Doisy College of Health Sciences in 1999 and her master’s degree in 2001. She worked as a physical therapist for more than 10 years, primarily treating adults with traumatic brain injury.
After her third daughter—with husband of 23 years Michael Howes—was born in 2009, Howes decided to step back from her demanding PT career and spend more time with her children. Four years later, when her youngest started preschool, “I found myself with time on my hands for the first time in a decade!” she told Writers’ Rumpus. She also was inspired to take a new direction. “When my kids were little, I made up countless stories for them,” she told Beanstack.com. “Stories to entertain them, to calm them, to distract them, to reassure them. I used stories to encourage them to be brave, to share their talents, to work hard at things that mattered.” She said that after a while, her daughters encouraged her to share her stories with the world.
When Howes began investigating what the road to picture book publication might look like, she discovered SCBWI, Sub It Club, and the KidLit 411 online community. By January 2014, she was ready to devote an entire year to working towards getting published. As a result, she found additional ways to connect with the children’s book world including attending conferences and taking online writing courses. On top of that, “I knew I needed a way to hold myself accountable for writing every day, and a way to network with other readers, writers, and book lovers,” she said in an interview with Read. Learn. Repeat.
Howes launched her own blog kateywrites, focused on raising kids who love to read, and joined the team at the All the Wonders website, a picture-book-centric online hub which features a podcast, videos, reviews, and more.
By spring 2015, “with hundreds of rejections under my belt,” she said in Writers’ Rumpus, Howes landed a contract for her debut picture book, Grandmother Thorn (Ripple Grove Press, 2017), about a gardener intent on keeping a “perfect” garden free of weeds and pests, who eventually learns to embrace the wildness of nature. Howes was a founding member of Picture the Books, a group of authors with debut picture books in 2017 who supported each other through the creation and promotion of their work, and featured resources for teachers, librarians, and booksellers.
More picture books by Howes came in quick succession, seven titles in all, including Magnolia Mudd and the Super Jumptastic Launcher Deluxe (Sterling, 2018), A Poem Grows Inside You (Innovation Press, 2022), Woven of the World (Chronicle, 2022), and The Reindeer Remainders, due out this month from Sourcebooks Explore. She tirelessly made in-person and online school visits and presented at writing and education conferences while continuing to contribute to websites including Nerdy BookClub, STEAM-Powered Family, and Imagination Soup. And fellow authors praised her consistent efforts to uplift the industry.
Essie White, Howes’s agent, and founder of Storm Literacy Agency, said, “Years ago, Katey shared with me what would be her debut picture book. That was the first of many projects together. However, in my estimation, her career was never about quantity of publications, but rather ensuring that children were the recipients of quality literature. She wanted their book experiences to not just involve interesting characters or adventures, but ones that allowed them to be seen and valued, stories that provided emotional resonance and material that exposed readers to exceptional prose and poetry. Katey felt children deserved all that and more. I believe her stories published and not yet published will fulfill those dreams. Perhaps that will help ease this universal heartache so many of us are feeling. Katey is, and always will be, terribly missed.”
Sourcebooks editor Anna Sargeant offered this tribute: “Katey’s work for children held themes of teamwork, inclusiveness, and empowerment—qualities she so beautifully embodied herself. Katey was a delightful balance of brilliant and humble, and I will greatly miss working with her.”
And Ariel Richardson, senior editor at Chronicle Books, shared a remembrance: “When I think of Katey I think of joy—she was always so full of laughter, so full of new book ideas. I also think about her incredible commitment to her craft, the way she showed up for every query and edit, and her sheer talent. Katey still feels so present for me. I last saw her in person at the Society of Illustrators, and the feeling of walking through the streets side-by-side with her talking through book ideas still feels so fresh in mind! It gives me some peace knowing how proud she was of her books—her books, and her family.”
