Mary Jane Auch (Author of Ashes of Roses)

Mary Jane Auch鈥檚 Followers (68)

Mary Jane Auch

Born

The United States

Website

Genre

Children's Books, History

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Mary Jane Auch also writes as MJ Auch.

The thought of becoming a writer never occurred to MJ Auch as a child. Her only literary efforts in those days were the plays which she and her girlfriend, Noreen, wrote for their marionettes. They produced these extravaganzas in Noreen鈥檚 garage and organized the neighborhood boys into a sales force to sell tickets and refreshments.

Summer visits to both of MJ鈥檚 grandmothers led to her fascination with chickens. One grandmother had a small backyard flock and the other grandmother and two bachelor uncles had a large farm that supplied eggs to half of Long Island. MJ learned that a flock of chickens had almost the same range of personalities that could be found in a classroom, from the quiet, shy chicken t Mary Jane Auch also writes as MJ Auch.

The thought of becoming a writer never occurred to MJ Auch as a child. Her only literary efforts in those days were the plays which she and her girlfriend, Noreen, wrote for their marionettes. They produced these extravaganzas in Noreen鈥檚 garage and organized the neighborhood boys into a sales force to sell tickets and refreshments.

Summer visits to both of MJ鈥檚 grandmothers led to her fascination with chickens. One grandmother had a small backyard flock and the other grandmother and two bachelor uncles had a large farm that supplied eggs to half of Long Island. MJ learned that a flock of chickens had almost the same range of personalities that could be found in a classroom, from the quiet, shy chicken to the big bully.

MJ loved books and read constantly. She wrote stories, drawn in comic book style with speech balloons for the dialog. Her interest in drawing continued through high school, and she went on to become an art major at Skidmore College. After graduation, MJ headed for New York City to seek fame and fortune, but after a year of designing prints for men's pajamas, she decided she wanted to do something more meaningful with her life. She enrolled in the Occupational Therapy program at Columbia University, which led to some wonderful years of working in a children's hospital near Hartford, Connecticut.

On a brief stop home to visit her parents before transferring to a new job in Denver, she met Herm Auch, a graphic artist and editorial cartoonist for the Rochester newspaper. It was love at first sight, and MJ never made it to Denver. They were married in 1967 and within a few years had produced a daughter, Katrin and a son, Ian. They moved from the city to a small farm, complete with chickens, ducks, and geese. Armed with a huge collection of Mother Earth News and absolutely no practical experience, they tackled farm life with gusto, gaining much comedy material for books MJ鈥檚 future books.

As the children grew older, MJ began to look for work in her original field of art. Like Jenna's mother in Mom Is Dating Weird Wayne, she had a brief stint as a 鈥渮it zapper鈥� at a school picture factory. Then she started illustrating for Pennywhistle Press, a national children's newspaper, and this sparked her interest in illustrating children鈥檚 books.

In the summer of 1984, MJ took a week-long children's writing conference on Cape Cod. She tried to write a picture book manuscript to take to the conference, but instead found herself writing a middle-grade novel. When her instructor, Natalie Babbitt, told of starting out as an artist and finding she could paint better pictures with words, something clicked. MJ finally knew that she wanted to a writer.

She started sending manuscripts to publishers, writing four full-length novels before she sold the first one. Then she sold a second book to another publisher that same week. It had taken two years and thirteen rejections, but MJ had finally reached her goal!mShe continued writing books for older kids and abandoned her dream of illustrating for a while. Then, after nine books, she wrote and illustrated The Easter Egg Farm. This set in motion a series of picture books featuring poultry involved in the arts.

The Auchs have now become a family of artists. Their children are grown and pursuing art careers of their own. Kat, a graphic artist, is now working as Associate Art Director for Scrapbook Answers Magazine in San Francisco. Ian has been a graphic artist and 3-D animator and is now Assistant New Media Editor for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle newspaper. Ian is also a metal artist and created the chicken-sized beauty parlor chair for [b:Beauty and the Beaks|1918127|Beaut ...more

Combine Editions
Mary Jane Auch鈥檚 books

Average rating: 3.84 · 13,078 ratings · 1,900 reviews · 48 distinct works 鈥� Similar authors

	Ashes of Roses 3.99 avg rating — 4,358 ratings — published 2002 — 20 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	One-Handed Catch 4.05 avg rating — 1,671 ratings — published 2006 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Princess and the Pizza by Mary Jane Auch, Herm Auch 3.93 avg rating — 1,250 ratings — published 2002 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Plot Chickens 4.01 avg rating — 708 ratings — published 2009 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	One Plus One Equals Blue 3.37 avg rating — 823 ratings — published 2013 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Journey to Nowhere (Remembrance "Mem" Nye #1) 3.87 avg rating — 417 ratings — published 1997 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Wing Nut 3.74 avg rating — 370 ratings — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Frozen Summer (Remembrance "Mem" Nye #2) 3.75 avg rating — 361 ratings — published 1998 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Chickerella 3.45 avg rating — 309 ratings — published 2005 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Dog on His Own 3.84 avg rating — 277 ratings — published 2015 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Mary Jane Auch…

Series by Mary Jane Auch

Remembrance "Mem" Nye (3 books)
by

Mary Jane Auch

3.83 avg rating — 908 ratings

Third Grade (3 books)
by

Mary Jane Auch,

Herm Auch (Illustrator)

3.59 avg rating — 254 ratings

Quotes by Mary Jane Auch (?)

“You got pretty popular for a while there.'
'For about forty-eight hours,' I said. 'Just long enough to figure out that I don't want to be popular.”
― M.J. Auch, One Plus One Equals Blue

tags: popularity

4 likes

“Good, don't think. Thinking is highly overrated.”
― M.J. Auch, One Plus One Equals Blue

tags: thinking

3 likes

“You didn't play baseball that well with two hands. How do you think you're going to make it with one?
"If you're just going to tell me what I can't do, you can leave.”
― M.J. Auch, One-Handed Catch

tags: baseball, deformity, disability, sports

1 likes

See all Mary Jane Auch's quotes »

Polls

Which of these books would you prefer to read as the December's book club selection?

The Accident Season by Mo茂ra Fowley-Doyle

5 votes, 50.0%

Faithful by Alice Hoffman

5 votes, 50.0%

One Plus One Equals Blue by Mary Jane Auch

0 votes, 0.0%

10 total votes

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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Historical Fictio...: May 2013 TBR Challenge: Report Points Here	233	128	Jun 05, 2013 08:41PM
Book Haven: 2012 What am I Reading?	1119	1072	Aug 22, 2013 11:51AM
100+ Books in 2025: Dolly's 100+ books in 2016	12	25	Jul 23, 2016 07:36AM
Nothing But Readi...: New 2 U Authors: 2016	94	549	Jan 08, 2017 05:47AM
What's the Name o...: SOLVED. Young adult/children. They lived in a cabin with a dirty floor. Her mom either got sick in the book or gave birth to a baby. A man comes and teaches the girl how to make rabbit traps for food and also catch fish. [s]	6	52	Jan 18, 2018 07:17AM
Crazy Challenge C...: NEW-TO-YOU AUTHORS - 2016	493	174	Feb 10, 2018 11:25AM
What's the Name o...: SOLVED. Young Adult Fiction Published Before 2005 about girl who paints sets in stage production [s]	8	124	Aug 03, 2019 11:56AM
What's the Name o...: SOLVED. High school romance theater stage lighting [s]	8	80	Oct 04, 2019 04:44PM
What's the Name o...: ABANDONED. Hen wants to be a dancer	6	451	Oct 25, 2019 05:43PM

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Mary Jane Auch鈥檚 Followers (68)

Mary Jane Auch

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Combine Editions
Mary Jane Auch鈥檚 books