Kathryn Ernst was born in New York City on November 12, 1942. In 1970 she was director of children's books for Prentice Hall. That same year her future husband's children entered her life, and she states that being around them seemed to make it easy to write. In 1972 she was given the Christopher Award for Editorial Achievement for acquiring and publishing anonymously written Go Ask Alice . In 1977 the National Science Teachers Association named Mr. Tamerin's Trees Outstanding Science Book. In her view, the primary thing in writing non-fiction is to connect facts and insights with fun.
From the guide to the Kathryn Ernst Papers, 1973, (University of Minnesota Libraries Children's Literature Research Collections [clrc])