Robbie Branscum was born in 1937 on a farm near Big Flat, Arkansas. Her father died when she was four and she was sent to a poverty-stricken, remote farm to live with her grandparents. Her books reflect her early struggles. Robbie quit school after 7th grade, but continued to treasure books and be fascinated by words. In her teens she wrote songs and poems. She married at 15, but she was divorced some 15 years later. In 1971 she published her first children's book. Her heroes and heroines were know for their fiestiness and colorful idioms. She died in 1997. Biographical Source: Something About the Author, v. 72, pp. 19-21.
From the guide to the Robbie Branscum Papers, 1977, (University of Minnesota Libraries Children's Literature Research Collections [clrc])
