Kehret, Peg. Five Pages a Day: A Writer’s Journey. Albert Whitman, 2002. ISBN 978-0807586501 185 pp. $

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This inspiring story of a woman who made her childhood dream of becoming a writer come true shows that you can accomplish anything if you are willing to work at it. Kehret, who embodies stick-to-itiveness, started young, with a neighborhood newsletter which folded fast, but went on to be a fact checker at a local newspaper. Her prolific writing career includes winning contests for ads and jingles with her poetry, “true stories” for magazines, plays, books for adults, and children’s fiction and nonfiction. In one anecdote, Kehret tells how the Library of Congress called her to verify that she was indeed the author of many varied works.

Because her book Small Steps (Albert Whitman, 1996) goes into detail about her experience of having polio as a child, this book focuses more on her lifelong career as a writer. Although she came late to children’s literature, the numerous awards and accolades indicate she was worth the wait.

May require some pushing, but this is a highly readable autobiography for fans of Kehret, those assigned the biography report, or research for budding writers.