Born in Portland, Oregon, April 14, 1959, Henry grew up in the small southern Oregon city of Medford where her father, Hank Henry, was a KTVL television newscaster, and her mother, Nora Henry, was a florist.[1]
Career
Author Roald Dahl helped April Henry take her first step as a writer.[2] When Henry was twelve, she sent Dahl a short story about a frog who loved peanut butter. Dahl had lunch with the editor of an international children's magazine and read her the story. The editor contacted her and asked to publish her story.[3]
Henry's first stand-alone thriller, Learning to Fly, was published by St. Martin's Press in 2002.[7] It was a Booksense pick, got starred reviews in Library Journal and Booklist, was named one of Library Journal's Best of 2002, and was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award.[citation needed]Shock Point, Henry's first young-adult thriller, was published by Putnam in 2006.[8] It was ALA Quick Pick, a Top 10 Books for Teens nominee, a New York Library's Books for the Teen Age book, named to the Texas Tayshas list, and a finalist for Philadelphia's Young Readers Choice Award.[citation needed] Her next young-adult book, Torched, a thriller about a girl who goes undercover in an environmental extremist group, was published in 2009. Girl, Stolen, a young-adult thriller about a blind girl who is accidentally kidnapped by a car thief, was released by Henry Holt in October 2010. In April 2011, Henry found the blind girl whose brief kidnapping inspired Girl, Stolen. Their story was featured in Publishers Weekly.[9]
In 2009, April Henry partnered with Lis Wiehl to collaborate on the Triple Threat Mystery series. The first book in the series, Face of Betrayal, was on the New York Times best-seller list for four weeks.[10][11][12][13]
Henry travels all over the country speaking at schools about the importance of writing, reading, and research.[14]
