Peter and Connie Roop
both born 1951 · Husband-and-wife teachers from Wisconsin who have written more than one hundred children's books, many of them true stories from American history.
Peter and Connie Roop are a husband-and-wife team of teachers who have written more than one hundred books for children. Peter was born in 1951 in Winchester, Massachusetts, and grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. Connie was born in 1951 in Wisconsin and grew up in the small town of Delavan. They met as students at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, graduated in 1973, and married that same year. Both then went to work for the Appleton schools: Peter taught elementary school for about twenty-five years, and Connie taught science for thirty-four. Peter began writing while he was a Fulbright exchange teacher in England in 1976, publishing stories in children's magazines before turning to books. Writing together, the Roops produced biographies, history, science books and even joke books, often drawing on real journals and diaries from the American past. Their Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie (1985) tells the true story of a lighthouse keeper's daughter in Maine and was featured on Reading Rainbow. In 2013 the Wisconsin Library Association named them Notable Wisconsin Authors.
Peter and Connie Roop is also an author in the library: author page and works.
Faith: Faith not well documented.
Key dates
- 1951 Peter born in Winchester, Massachusetts; Connie born in Wisconsin
- 1973 Both graduate from Lawrence University, marry, and begin teaching in Appleton, Wisconsin
- 1976 Peter, a Fulbright exchange teacher in England, begins writing for children
- 1985 Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie published
- 1986 Peter named Wisconsin Teacher of the Year
- 2013 Named Notable Wisconsin Authors by the Wisconsin Library Association
Fun facts
- Early on, Peter sent one story to Highlights and another to Jack and Jill. Both were rejected, so he swapped them, and each magazine accepted the other's story. (Source: Connie Roop and Peter Roop (StoryCorps interview, 2023))
- Seven of Peter Roop's books have been Reading Rainbow books, including Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie. (Source: Peter Roop (Simon & Schuster author page))
Read about them
Grades K–2
- Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie · In the library
More lives
Richard Adams · Tamim Ansary · Paul Auster · Donald Barthelme · Saul Bellow · Nathaniel Benchley
Notes: No Wikipedia article. Facts come from the University of Minnesota finding aid for the Peter and Connie Roop Papers (citing Something About the Author, 2016), the JRank/Something About the Author entry for Peter Roop, the Roops' 2023 StoryCorps interview, and the Simon & Schuster author page. The finding aid gives Connie's birthplace as Elkhorn, Wisconsin; she has said she grew up in Delavan.