Dubosarsky, Ursula (1961-…), is an Australian author of literature for children and young adults. The Australian Children’s Literature Alliance named Dubosarsky the Australian Children’s Laureate for 2020 and 2021. A laureate is a person who is honored for outstanding achievement in a particular field. The alliance is a private organization that promotes the importance of reading, creativity, and stories in the lives of young Australians.
Dubosarsky’s works include picture books, novels, and nonfiction books. Some of her most popular children’s works include the picture books The Terrible Plop (2009), Too Many Elephants in This House (2012), Reindeer’s Christmas Surprise (2014), Ask Hercules Quick (2019), and The March of the Ants (2021). The Word Spy (2008; published in the United States as The Word Snoop, 2009) and The Return of the Word Spy (2010) are nonfiction books about the English language. Both books were illustrated by Tohby Riddle. Dubosarsky’s series “The Cryptic Casebook of Coco Carlomagno (and Alberta),” illustrated by Terry Denton, follows a pair of guinea-pig detectives as they use logic to solve puzzling cases. The series began with The Perplexing Pineapple (2013).
Dubosarsky’s fiction books also include Brindabella (2018), about an orphaned kangaroo, and Pierre’s Not There (2020), about a magic puppet show and a girl who turns into a dog. Her young adult novels include The White Guinea-Pig (1994), The Red Shoe (2006), The Golden Day (2011), and The Blue Cat (2017). Her novels often portray adolescent characters encountering the complex world of adulthood while maintaining a sense of humor.
Ursula Coleman was born on June 25, 1961, in Sydney, Australia. She graduated from the University of Sydney in 1982. She met Avi Dubosarsky, of Argentina, while working on a kibbutz (collective community) in Israel. They married in 1987. In 2007, Ursula Dubosarsky earned a doctorate degree in children’s literature at Macquarie University in Sydney.
