Recent Work

Cindy Jenson-Elliott

Cindy Jenson-Elliott is an author, credentialed teacher, environmental educator, and gardener. Her middle grade nonfiction book The Doomsday Detectives: How Walter and Luis Alvarez Uncovered the Mystery of What Killed the Dinosaurs (illustrated by Theo Nicole Lorenz, Lee & Low), written as equal parts family biography, narrative mystery, graphic nonfiction, and expository science, will be published in fall 2024. Cindy’s debut picture book Weeds Find a Way (illustrated by Carolyn Fisher, Beach Lane Books/Simon & Schuster), was named a NCTE Notable Children’s Book, an ALA Notable Children’s Book, a Bank Street College Best Book of the Year, and a Eureka Honor Book by the California Reading Association. She is also the author of Dig In! (illustrated by Mary Patterson, Beach Lane Books/Simon & Schuster) and Antsy Ansel: Ansel Adams A Life in Nature (illustrated by Christy Hale, Henry Holt), which was awarded an SCBWI Crystal Kite Award and Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year.

Cindy is an active SCBWI member and has taught literature, science, gardening, and writing at nature centers, camps, elementary/middle/high schools throughout California. The Doomsday Detectives was awarded the SCBWI Work-in-Progress Grant for Nonfiction. Visit Cindy on the web http://www.cindyjensonelliott.com/, or follow her on twitter @CJensonElliott