John Coy

John Coy

John Coy
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 6 to 10
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	9.51

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		award-winning, anthology, passion, middle-grade, teaching, earning, editor, born, excellence, exposure, various, member, assortment, fellowship, advance, succeed
	content words:		John Coy, College Graduate Center, PEN American Center, Loft Literary Center, Interdependence Day, Hungry Mind Review, Riverbank Review, Five Owls, Minnesota Orchestra Centennial Book, Special Stretch

Print John Coy

Print John Coy (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)

Quickly Print - PDF format

	Quickly Print: PDF (2 columns per page)
	Quickly Print: PDF (full page)

Quickly Print - HTML format

Quickly Print: HTML

Proofreading Activity

Print a proofreading activity

Feedback on John Coy

Leave your feedback on John Coy (use this link if you found an error in the story)

John Coy
By Jamie Kee

¹     John Coy, born August 9, 1958, is an award-winning author who has written a wide variety of children's books. His books have ranged from picture books for young children to young adult books. Coy held a varied assortment of jobs such as a mattress maker, a dishwasher, a tour guide, and a group home worker. His passion, however, lies in writing and teaching others how to write.

²     Coy grew up in a teaching family. Both his mother and father were teachers as well as an uncle. His two grandmothers even taught out on the prairie in one-room schoolhouses. According to Coy, "Teachers and teaching were part of the air I breathed." He feels that he learned the gift of teaching through his exposure to the teachers around him. Coy also believes that he was fortunate to have excellent teachers when he attended school, and it was his favorite teachers who encouraged him in his own writing.

³     Coy received his college education initially at St. John's University, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts. He then moved on to St. Mary's College Graduate Center, earning a Master of Arts. Beginning in 1994, Coy conducted hundreds of weeks of writing programs in schools such as COMPAS, a non-profit school for diverse populations in grades 9-12, and PEN American Center, an association of writers working to advance literature, to defend free expression, and to foster international literary fellowship. In 1996 Coy began teaching adult classes at The Loft Literary Center and at the University of Minnesota on how to write children's picture books. Coy has also developed presentations for parents, teachers, librarians, and administrators on writing children's picture books.

Paragraphs 4 to 9:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable

Copyright © 2009 edHelper