Lael Littke: Mormon Author
Lael Jensen Littke is the author of over forty books for young adults and children as well as numerous short stories that were published in national markets, such as Seventeen, Ladies’ Home Journal, and Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Her book titles include Prom Dress (1989, the first volume in her Point Horror series), Thirteen (1991), The Watcher (1994), The Phantom Fair (1996), Haunted Sister (1998), Lake of Secrets (2002), and Keepers of Blackbird Hill (2011). Trish for President, Shanny on Her Own, and Loydene in Love were on the New York Public Library’s “Recommended List for Teenagers.” She also coauthored three women’s novels (with Carroll Morris and Nancy Anderson): Almost Sisters, Three Tickets to Peoria, and Surprise Packages.
Littke was born on December 2, 1929, in Mink Creek, Idaho. She earned her bachelor’s degree in education and English from Utah State University. She moved to Denver where she worked as a secretary and met her husband, George Charles Littke. Soon after their marriage, they moved to New York University where he completed his PhD at New York University and she took classes at City College of New York. With a good writing teacher to mentor her, she started selling to national magazines. Her first sale, however, was to the Relief Society Magazine.
After nine years in New York City, her husband was offered a job at California State University, Los Angeles. They packed up their three-year-old daughter and moved to California. Littke found another writing teacher at Pasadena City College and began writing young adult novels and children’s books. Some of her children’s titles include Run, Ducky, Run (1996), The Mystery of Ruby’s Ghost (1992), The Day They Smelled a Skunk at Peanut Butter Pond (1991), The Day Porcupine Put on the Dog at Peanut Butter Pond (1990), The Day Snake Saved Time at Peanut Butter Pond (1990).
Littke and her husband joined the Miller Eccles Study Group, eventually being asked to be on the board of directors. The group “seeks to encourage scholarship, enlightenment and understanding concerning all things Mormon.”[1] She is active with Sunstone and Exponent II journals. She coauthored Stories from the Life of Joseph Smith (2003) with Richard E. Turley Jr.. She is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Her husband passed away in 1991. She lives in Pasadena, California. In 2012, she was honored with the Whitney Lifetime Achievement Award.
