John and Patricia Beatty

John and Patricia Beatty (1922–1975), were married American writers, an academic historian and a children's librarian. They wrote several books together until John Beatty's death in 1975, after which Patricia Beatty continued to write until her death in 1991. All Beatty titles have been returned to e-print through Beebliome Books.^[1]

John Louis Beatty was born on January 24, 1922, in Portland, Oregon, and later became a history professor. He wrote ten books with his wife Patricia and helped edit a two-volume historical text entitled Heritage of Western Civilization.^[2] Beatty served as an assistant professor of history and humanities at the University of California, Riverside, and died on March 23, 1975, in Riverside, California.^[3]

Patricia Beatty was born August 26, 1922, in Portland, Oregon. She spent part of her life in the Pacific Northwest and occasionally resided on Indian reservations.^[4] Beatty graduated from Reed College in Portland and has worked as a children's librarian and a high school teacher.^[4] She has written fifty books, ten of which were with her first husband John Beatty. She remarried in 1975 to Carl Uhr, an economics professor at the University of California.^[5] She died on July 9, 1991.^[6]

• 1972 Jane Addams Children's Book Award, nomination for Lupita Manana^[7]
• 1974 California Council Medal from the Southern California Council on Literature for Children and Young People, won^[7]
• 1976 California Council Medal from the Southern California Council on Literature for Children and Young People, won^[8]
• 1983 Literature Medal from the Southern California Council on Literature for Children and Young People for Jonathan down Under, won^[8]
• 1984 Western Writers of America Award, won^[8]
• 1987 Western Writers of America Award, won^[8]
• 1988 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction for Charley Skedaddle, won^[9]

• 1963 New York Times One Hundred Outstanding Books for Young People for At the Seven Stars^[8]
• 1965 Commonwealth Club of California Medal for best juvenile by a California author for Campion Towers^[8]
• 1966 Horn Book honor list for A Donkey for the King^[8]
• 1967 Southern California Council on Children's and Young People's Literature Medal for The Young Dirk^[8]

The California Library Association's (CLA) John and Patricia Beatty Award honors authors and/or illustrators of distinguished books for children and/or young adults that best promote an awareness of California and its people. Patricia Beatty donated the initial endowment, which now honors both her and her husband. A committee of CLA members selects the winning title from books published in the United States during the preceding year. The award was established in 1990. In October 2021, the CLA Board of Directors voted unanimously to allow the Beatty Committee to select an additional award for young adults. Each award winner is granted $500.^[21][22][23] The 2023 award winners were Wake, Sleepy One: California Poppies and the Super Bloom, written by Lisa Kerr and illustrated by Lisa Powell Braun, published by West Margin Press, an imprint of Turner Publishing Company; and The Peach Rebellion, written by Wendelin Van Draanen and published by  Random House Children's Books, a division of the Penguin Group.