Born in Milwaukee, she now lives in Iowa City.
http://www.icgov.org/literarywalk/authors/rcarlsen.htm
(a picture of a plaque for her in Iowa City, with notes)
http://special.lib.umn.edu/findaid/xml/CLRC-743.xml
(her papers)
http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&q=%22ruth+Christoffer+carlsen%22+
(a very few covers)
In Contemporary Authors:
Ruth C. Carlsen told CA: "I have always felt that laughter is a very
precious and a much too scarce experience in children's lives. And so,
I have written my stories hoping to catch my audience unaware and
surprise them into giggles and snorts. To hear children laughing out
loud when one of my stories is read to them is one of the delights of
my life.
"My first book, Mr. Pudgins, was immediately accepted on first reading
by Houghton Mifflin which gave me super-confidence that my next books
would cause as few birth pangs. How wrong I was proved. My next
attempts were either aborted or stillborn. I had no other books
published until fifteen years after Mr. Pudgin's appearance and then I
was doubly blessed when Hildy and the Cuckoo Clock and Henrietta Goes
West both came out in 1966.
"I have always tried to have real children living in a real world
experience fantastic incidents which can almost but not quite be
explained by the knowledge of the real world. It gives me the
sensation of walking a tightrope, and keeping my balance is not easy.
"Now I have reached another plateau. My mind is filled with stories,
but I never seem to have the time to type them down on paper. Instead
I work away at my husband's literary series which keeps me writing,
but not in the old way."
More recently, Carlsen added: "Now I have been converted to using a
word processor and often find myself at war with a machine. Since I'm
self-taught, I often get into situations where my personal computer
delights in proving how superior is the mind of a machine over that of
a lowly human. After nine months of humiliation at its keyboard, I
discovered that the seller had neglected to install a conductor to
make the computer and the drive compatible. It is no wonder that I
seriously thought of having a nervous breakdown during the stress of
the conflict. Now it is not all delight. But at least I have moved
into a more tranquil period and I relish the ease with which one can
change a bit of writing here and a bit more there without retyping
page after page of manuscript."
CHILDREN'S FICTION
Mr. Pudgins, Houghton, 1951.
Henrietta Goes West, Houghton, 1966.
Hildy and the Cuckoo Clock, Houghton, 1966.
Monty and the Tree House, Houghton, 1967.
Sam Bottleby, Houghton, 1968.
Ride A Wild Horse, Houghton, 1970.
Sometimes It's Up, Houghton, 1971.
Half Past Tomorrow, Houghton, 1973.
Lenona.
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