Authors and Illustrators Database

Born: 1898  Wilmette
Died: 1986
Parents: Henry N. and Jeannie Ayars
Spouse: Rebecca Caudill, a writer and housewife
Children: James S. Ayars, Jr. and Rebecca Jean Baker

Image	Title	Genre	Audience	Publisher	Date
	The Ministry of Paul Burt: in Spirit and in Truth, Wesley Foundation - Editor	Non Fiction		University of Illinois	1978
	We Hold These Truths: From Magna Carta to the Bill of Rights	Non Fiction, History	Children, Teen	New York : Viking Press	1977
	Track Comes to Lonesome Point	Fiction	Children, Teen	New York, Dutton	1973
	Contrary Jenkins - With Rebecca Caudill; Illustrated by Glen Rounds.	Fiction	Children	New York : Holt, Rinehart and Winston	1969
	The Illinois River - Clara Judson Award Winner	Non Fiction	Children	New York : Holt, Rinehart and Winston	1968
	John James Audubon, Bird Artist	Non Fiction, Biography	Children	Campaign, Ill., Garrard Pub. Co.	1966
	Another Kind of Puppy	Fiction	Children	London, New York, Abelard-Schuman	1965
	Butterflies, Skippers, and Moths - With M. W. Sanderson	Non Fiction	Children	Racine, Wis., Whitman Pub. Co.	1964
	Happy Birthday, Mom!	Fiction	Children	London, New York, Abelard-Schuman	1963
	Pet Parade	Fiction	Children	London, New York, Abelard-Schuman	1960
	Caboose on the Roof	Fiction	Children	London, New York, Abelard-Schuman	1956
	Basketball Comes to Lonesome Point	Fiction	Children	New York, Viking Press	1952

What is the aim or goal of your writing: 2nd ed. says, " Although I was born in a suburb of Chicago, from the time I was about five years old until I went away to college I lived on a fruit farm four miles east of Paw Paw and thirteen miles west of Kalamazoo, MI. I grew up liking and respecting hard work, I sometimes worked for neighbor farmers for $1.00 per day (not hour), $1.25 in haying time. I never learned to work fast or type well. So I must write and rewrite, erase and erase, check and recheck--great wastes of time. Although I spent 28 years on the University of Illinois campus where I edited technical papers in Biology for the Illinois State Natural History Survey, I still have some sentimentality. At the settlement of my mother's estate, I asked for and was given that part of the old farm on which, long before, my father and I had planted white pine seedlings that in the intervening years had forested a once-barren hillside. For most of my life, editing has been my vocation; writing has been one of my avocations. A seventh grade teacher gave me the idea that someday I would be a writer. My preference is for prose based on painstaking research. I believe that the creativity necessary for good writing does not end with the first draft. It should be carried into the hard work of revision--into the second, third, and following drafts. My practice in writing has been to read each draft carefully and objectively (as if I were some other person). Each sentence should be so clear that it canot be misunderstood. it should contain no cliches and no other useless words."

May inquiries be sent to you about doing workshops, readings: No

Donated books to the Authors & Illustrators database project: No

Skills:
Author

MeLCat Links:
http://elibrary.mel.org/search~S15?/aayars%2C+james/aayars+james/1%2C5%2C29%2CB/exact&FF=aayars+james+sterling&1%2C16%2C/indexsort=-

Last Modified On: 6/25/2018 12:00:00 AM