Dina Anastasio

Books, Plays, Poems, Articles

I've written all kinds of books and articles for children, YA, and adults, but I especially enjoy writing mysteries and poems. I love playing with the intricacies of plot and agonizing over the perfect word.

With the exception of four delightful years as editor of Sesame Street Magazine, all of my adult working life has been spent at home or in trains/ planes/buses, exploring and discarding slivers of ideas, jotting down notes in notebooks of various sizes, and zeroing in on all those tiny details that make life interesting.

My home is in New York City. I've lived in many different places around the world but I always seem to come back here, to my apartment in Manhattan, where I grew up.

I work on my bed, with a laptop on my lap, a TV remote on my left, and a phone on my right. The phone is important because sometimes writers crave a chat with someone other than that fictional, incomplete character that keeps stomping and knocking and tiptoeing around up there in our brains.


I have two grown children and three grandchildren who continue to surprise, enrich, and add joy to my life.

SOME OF MY OOKS

CLIFFORD and JUMPSTART workbooks, grades PreK, Kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade.— Scholastic. 2000, 2001

THE PINKY BALL BOOK AND BALL. Workman Publishing. 2000.

THE BAND. Scholastic. 8th Grade Interest Level, First Grade Reading Level. 1999.

THE TORCH RUNNER. Scholastic. 8th Grade Interest, 2nd Grade Reading Level. 1999.

THE WOLF and THE LIVING DESERT. High Interest/Low reading level books. Pearson, 2000

A YEAR OF CELEBRATIONS: Hundred of Ideas and Activities for Family Fun. (For Parents).
Children’s TV Workshop. 1997.

WILD WILD WEST. Junior Novelization. 1999. Scholastic.

APOLLO 13. Junior Novelization. Ages 8-12. Grosset and Dunlap. 1995. (Scholastic—Arrow Book Club)

COURTING DANGER AND OTHER STORIES.
A Ghostwriter book of Mini-Mysteries for 8-12. CTW/BANTAM. 1992. New York.

FLIPPER. Junior Novelization. 1996. Price/Stern/Sloan.

TWENTY MINI-MYSTERIES YOU CAN SOLVE. A book of 2-3 page mysteries for 7-11. Scholastic. London. 1996.

TWENTY SPINE-TINGLING MINI-MYSTERIES. A book of
mysteries for 8-12. Scholastic. London. 1993.

TWENTY SCHOOL MINI-MYSTERIES. Scholastic. 1993.

TWENTY MINI-MYSTERIES. Scholastic. London. 1991.

THE HUNGRY PLANT. An easy-to-read story book for ages 7-9. Grosset and Dunlap. New York. 1997.

PIRATES. An All Aboard Grosset book. Easy-to-read.
7-9. 1997.

SPACE: ABOVE AND BEYOND. (2 books) Harper Collins. 1997.

IT'S ABOUT TIME. A book about telling time for 4-8. Grosset and Dunlap. New York. 1993.

JOY TO THE WORLD. The story of Christmas. Picture Book. Grosset and Dunlap. New York. 1992.

A Question of Time. Novel for 8-12. Dutton. Scholastic-Arrow book club selection.

PASS THE PEAS PLEASE. A picture book about manners, in rhyme. Little Brown. New York.

THE TEDDY BEAR WHO COULDN'T DO ANYTHING. Picture Book. Ladybird. London. 1989.

BIG BIRD CAN SHARE. Western Publishing. Ages 2-6. CTW/New York.

SCOOTER AND SKEETER'S MERRY-GO-ROUND PUZZLE. (In rhyme) Henson/Marvel.

BABY PIGGY AND THE BUBBLE. (In rhyme) Henson/Marvel Books. New York.

THE JULIET STONE ENVIRONMENTAL MYSTERY SERIES:
The Case of the Grand Canyon Eagle.
The Case of the Glacier Park Swallow. Young Adult environmental mysteries. Roberts Rinehart. Colorado. 1994.

The Fisher Price Dictionary, and other Fisher Price Books.

2 Travel Games to Go books. Price/Stern/Sloan

Ten small first grade reading books for Silver Burdett. 1991.

Several stories and activities for Sesame Street online.

13 pupil books for Macmillan’s original Series R (grades K-6)

High interest/low reading level books.
Fiction and nonfiction books for Scholastic, Rigby, and Pearson. Middle school and Junior High.

4 books of short/short stories for Globe/Fearon (Simon & Schuster) Publishing. High interest/low reading level.

2 "Following Directions" activity books for Scholastic Professional Books, 2002

Jumpstart workbooks (Scholastic. 2000)
Clifford Workbooks (Scholastic. 2001)

Social Studies Non-fiction Books:
Harcourt/Time Inc. Kids. Grades 4 and 5.

More than 20 books of poetry, fiction, nonfiction can be found at www.readinga-z.com