Mary Batten

Mary Batten is an award-winning writer for television, film and publishing. Her many writing projects have taken her into tropical rainforests, astronomical observatories, scientific laboratories, and medical research centers.

A native of Smithfield, VA, she is the author of Who Has A Belly Button (Peachtree 2004), Recommended by the National Science Teachers Association; Aliens from Earth (Peachtree 2003), Recommended by the National Science Teachers Association; Hey, Daddy! Animal Fathers and Their Babies - Named Outstanding Science Read Aloud 2003 by the National Association for the Advancement of Science (Peachtree 2002); Wild Cats (Golden Books 2002; new edition Random House 2004; selected by Scholastic Book Club); Anthropologist: Scientist of the People -- Named Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children by the National Science Teachers Association and the Children's Book Council (Houghton Mifflin 2001). Other books include: Hungry Plants (Golden Books, 2000; new edition Random House 2004; selected by the Children's Book of the Month Club for 2004); The Winking, Blinking Sea -- Named one of the Best Children's Books for 2001 (Millbrook Press, 2000), Recommended by the National Science Teachers Association; Extinct! Creatures of the Past (Golden Books, 2000); Baby Wolf (Grosset and Dunlap, 1998); Shark Attack (Random House 1997); The 25 Scariest Hauntings in the World (Lowell House 1996); Sexual Strategies: How Females Choose Their Mates, (Tarcher/Putnam, 1994); and Nature's Tricksters (Sierra Club Books/Little Brown, 1992).

Mary Batten was nominated for an Emmy for her work on the Children's Television Workshop's science series 3-2-1-CONTACT, and she has written some 50 nature documentaries for television series, including the syndicated WILD WILD WORLD OF ANIMALS (Time-Life Films) and others for National Geographic and Disney Educational Films.

She and her husband, composer Ed Bland, live in Smithfield, VA. They have two grown children.

Website: http://www.marybatten.com/