This Goodly Land

Nancy Van Laan (November 18, 1939–present)

Other Names Used

• Nancy Greven: birth name

Alabama Connections

• Birmingham, Jefferson County: childhood residence, adult residence, employment with Alabama Public Television
• Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa County: education

Selected Works

• Van Laan, Nancy. Rainbow Crow: A Lenape Tale. Illus. Beatriz Vidal. New York: Knopf, 1989. For younger readers.
• Van Laan, Nancy. Possum Come A-Knockin'. Illus. George Booth. New York: Knopf, 1990. For younger readers.
• Van Laan, Nancy. Shingebiss: An Ojibwe Legend. Illus. Betsy Bowen. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. For younger readers.
• Van Laan, Nancy. So Say the Little Monkeys. Illus. Yumi Heo. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 1998. For younger readers.
• Van Laan, Nancy. With a Whoop and a Holler: A Bushel of Lore from Way Down South. Illus. Scott Cook. New York: Atheneum Books, 1998. For younger readers.
• Van Laan, Nancy. When Winter Comes. Illus. Susan Gaber. New York: Atheneum Books for Younger Readers, 2000. For younger readers.
• Van Laan, Nancy. Busy Busy Moose. Illus. Amy Rusch. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003. For younger readers.

Literary Awards

• Alabama Author Award, Alabama Library Association, 1991, for Rainbow Crow: A Lenape Tale

Biographical Information

Nancy Van Laan was born in Baton Rouge, La. Her father was a colonel in the US Air Force, and the family moved frequently as Van Laan was growing up. She began making up stories to pass the time on long car trips. Although Van Laan had a learning disability, she loved to read. She began drawing and writing poetry as a child and enjoyed illustrating her own stories. Van Laan also loved ballet and began taking lessons at the age of nine. By age seventeen, she had her own ballet company in Birmingham that performed on a weekly program broadcast on Alabama Educational TV (now Alabama Public Television). Van Laan’s dancing career ended as a result of an injury she sustained as a student at Sullins College in Bristol, Va. After completing her AA degree at Sullins, she enrolled at the University of Alabama, earning her BA in radio and television in 1961.

Van Laan moved to New York after college. She worked briefly at an advertising company and then joined ABC-TV where she worked as a network censor from 1962 to 1966. Van Laan began writing at this time and also studied art. After her first two children were born, she resigned from ABC and began painting professionally, creating murals for schools and private clients. She earned an MFA in theater from Rutgers University in 1979 and wrote two plays which were performed regionally. Van Laan moved to eastern Pennsylvania where she taught English at a private boarding school from 1984 to 1989. She also taught creative writing at Rutgers from 1986 to 1989. Van Laan published her first book, The Big Fat Worm, in 1987. Two years later, she left teaching to write full time. Since then, Van Laan has published over two dozen books. One of these, Rainbow Crow, was featured on the PBS television series Reading Rainbow. Van Laan lives and writes in Doylestown, Pa.

Interests and Themes

Nancy Van Laan writes picture books, many based on folk tales and Native American stories.

For More Information

Please check your local library for these materials. If items are not available locally, your librarian can help you borrow them through the InterLibrary Loan program. Your librarian can also help you find other information about this author.

There may be more information available through the databases in the Alabama Virtual Library. If you are an Alabama citizen, AVL can be used at your public library or school library media center. You can also get a username and password from your librarian to use AVL at home.

Reference Book Chapters and Encyclopedia Entries

• "Van Laan, Nancy, 1939-"; Something About the Author. Vol. 105. Detroit: The Gale Group, . 219-224.

Photo courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Co.

Last updated on Dec 18, 2007.