Recreates the life of the sixteenth-century Irish pirating woman, Grania O'Malley, whose exploits included saving her father from an Englishman's sword, fighting off Turkish pirates, and out-dueling her enemies.
Emily Arnold McCully was born left handed in Illinois and was transplanted to Long Island, where she grew up. A tree climber, bike rider, fort builder and ball player, she also devoted hours every day to reading and drawing. She majored in art history at college and acted and wrote for the theater. She lived in Europe for a year researching her Master's thesis, also in art history. Back in New York, she took to the streets with a portfolio of sample illustrations. Early assignments were for book jackets, magazine stories and pharmaceutical ads. A poster displayed in subway cars caught the attention of a children's book editor and a new career was launched. After illustrating other peoples' texts for several years and publishing two adult novels (A Craving and life Drawing) McCully began writing her own picture books.
She has been awarded the Caldecott Medal, Christopher Award, Jane Addams Award, O'Henry Award and many others.
She has two sons and lives in New York and Columbia County, N.Y., where she maintains a large garden.
