Ransom has a monthly column in Bookology Magazine, titled 'Big Green Pocketbook'. In 2004, Ransom graduated from Vermont College of Fine Arts with a MFA in Writing for Children, followed by an MA in children’s literature at Hollins University in 2007. By 1989 Ransom had published 17 books, and was invited to be the keynote speaker for the annual conference of The Society of Children's Book Writers. This offer turned into the first two novels of the highly successful 'Sunfire' series. The next big step in Ransom's career came when her publisher called with the chance to write a four-hundred-page historical novel for teens. The picture book disappeared down a mouse hole.' Her first published book, The Silvery Pass, came out in 1982.

'The mystery came back with tire tracks across the envelope. Her first two submissions to publishers were a book titled “Mystery of the Hidden Carousel”, which was sent to Harper, and a picture book about a mouse (text and colored pen drawings on the same page), which was sent to Whitman. Lacking the finances to go to college, Ransom wrote magazine articles in her spare time while she earned a living as a secretary. And I didn't have a best friend until I was in fifth grade, so I wrote stories about how I imagined life could be.' In her senior year of high school Ransom began writing in earnest, and she made a commitment to herself to become an author she decided to become a children's author because she loved children's books best of all. After that she scribbled stories in her spare time, usually casting herself as the star who had all the fun and solved all the mysteries, inventing the adventures that were in short supply in real life. She wrote her first book at age 7 because she had finished reading all the books for her grade at the school library. Īs a child, Ransom wanted to grow up to be a 'Writer-detective-veterinarian-artist'. Her experiences growing up in rural Virginia, especially those as a student at Robert Frost Junior High School, provided ideas for her books' plots and characters. Her parents are Thomas Garland and Irene Dellinger Farris. More than 45 of her titles have been translated into 12 languages. Her work includes picture books, easy readers, middle grade fiction, biographies, and nonfiction. She wrote the Dungeons & Dragons novel, Key to the Griffon's Lair (October 2005). She has written over 150 books as of June 2020, including 18 books for The Boxcar Children series, The Time Spies series and the Sunfire series. Ransom (born July 10, 1952) is a popular children's and young-adult author.

Amanda by Candice Ransom