Katherine Applegate photo

Katherine Applegate

Katherine Applegate is the author of The One and Only Ivan, winner of the 2013 Newbery Medal. Her novel Crenshaw spent over twenty weeks on the New York Times children's bestseller list, and her first middle-grade stand-alone novel, the award-winning Home of the Brave, continues to be included on state reading lists, summer reading lists, and class reading lists.

Katherine has written three picture books: The Buffalo Storm; The Remarkable True Story of Ivan, the Shopping Mall Gorilla (often used as a companion book to The One and Only Ivan for younger readers); and Sometimes You Fly (publishing in spring, 2018). For beginning readers, Katherine wrote Roscoe Riley Rules, a seven-book series.

With her husband, Michael Grant, Katherine co-wrote Animorphs, a long-running series that has sold over 35 million books worldwide.

Katherine lives in Marin County, California, with her family and assorted pets.


“Humor. The just-nearly-died brand of giddy humor.”
Katherine Applegate
Read more
“I tried to tear my mind off my own self loathing.-David”
Katherine Applegate
Read more
“In dreams you lose normal cause and effect. You jump around in time. This is reality. Jalil”
Katherine Applegate
Read more
“About chocolate: "This is what laughing tastes like.”
Katherine Applegate
Read more
“Jalil has this habit of not turning his head much, just moving his eyes, skeptical, appraising, not impressed by much. It takes him a while to talk and you might think he's slow. But when you get to know him, you realize he's slow to talk because his brain has already jumped ahead three spaces and he has to back up to deal with you.”
Katherine Applegate
Read more
“You know a guy is funny when a week later you can still feel the little knives he stuck in you.”
Katherine Applegate
Read more
“I think that in many ways, just as forgiveness is impossible without love, sometimes love requires forgiveness for it to work, too.”
Katherine Applegate
Read more
“If you're stuck you could always double up with me at my place. It's the size of a postage stamp, but the roses are the size of poodles. So it sort of evens out." -Austin”
Katherine Applegate
Read more
“Oh, it's just a trash can. Chill out." (Marco) BAM! BAM! BAM! "Okay, so it's four trash cans," (Marco) " BAM! BAM! BAM! "Do you hate trash cans? Is that your problem? Do you just HATE TRASH CANS?!!" (Jake)”
Katherine Applegate
Read more
“I just want to get on a table, dance on someone's tater tots, and wait for the hall monitor to drag me away”
Katherine Applegate
Read more
“Ah." Ax nodded. "She does not understand how menacing we are." He tapped her on the shoulder. "You do not know me," he said, "but I am a juvenile delinquent. I do not trust authority figures, I probably will not graduate from high school, and statistics say my present rowdiness and vandalism will likely lead to more serious crimes. I am a dangerous fellow and I am causing mayhem in this store." He reached behind her and pulled three jars of baby food from the top shelf. Shoved them behind a box of macaroni. Shuffled the Chess Whizzed in front of the Marshmallow Fluff. Tossed a bag of lady's shavers onto a bag of hamburger buns. "There. I have now shamelessly destroyed the symmetry of this shelf, undoing hours of labor by underpaid store employees. If you could see me, you would be frightened." "If she could see you, she'd have you committed," Marco muttered.”
Katherine Applegate
Read more
“Humans. Violent but peace-loving. Passionate but cerebral. Humane but cruel. Impulsive but calculating. Generous but selfish. Humans. Altogether a contradictory and deeply flawed species. And yet...And yet, somehow I knew that they represented the best hope of the galaxy. Perhaps the only hope.”
Katherine Applegate
Read more
“Love is alcohol.”
Katherine Applegate
Read more
“Death's gruesome face taunts:soulless eyes, crimson grimace.I really hate clowns.”
Katherine Applegate
Read more
“What's love? Something that lasts a week or a month and that's all you can except? Or is it just that some loves have a short shelf life? You know, like yogurt: after a week or two they go bad.And how do you recognize the other kind of love, the kind that isn't like yogurt? The kind that's more like... I don't know, like peanut butter, that lasts forever and always tastes good?”
Katherine Applegate
Read more
“You do not know me, but I am a juvenile delinquent. I do not trust authority figures, I probably will not graduate from high school, and statistics say my present rowdiness and vandalism will likely lead to more serious crimes. I am a dangerous fellow, and I am causing mayhem in this store. [...] There. I have now shamelessly destroyed the symmetry of this shelf, undoing hours of labor by underpaid store employees. If you could see me, you would be frightened.”
Katherine Applegate
Read more