Prolific author and dedicated animal advocate Peg Kehret, known for her suspenseful tales of ordinary kids in dramatic situations, died on December 7, in Bellevue, Wash., at the home of her daughter Anne, where she had been living for several years. She was 89.
Peg Kehret was born November 11, 1936, in LaCrosse, Wis., a daughter of Arthur Schulze, an executive at Geo. A. Hormel & Co. (now Hormel Foods), and Elizabeth M. Schulze, a homemaker. She spent her early childhood in LaCrosse, where she recalled fashioning her very first books by gluing used pages from her father’s sales receipt books together. “My first stories were written for my grandfather when I was seven years old,” she wrote in an autobiographical essay. “I wish I could say I wrote them for the joy of creating literature, but the truth is, I wrote them because Grandpa offered to pay me three cents for each story.” These early tales always featured animals, a passion that stayed with Kehret throughout her lifetime, and influenced much of her published work.
At age 12, when her family was living in Austin, Minn., Kehret contracted polio and spent nine months receiving treatment in hospitals and recovering from paralysis, a life-changing period she chronicled in Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio (Albert Whitman, 1996).
During high school, Kehret said her “love of writing burst into full bloom,” as she kept a diary at home, and excelled at essays, term papers, and other school assignments. Her teachers encouraged her writing, and her work on the yearbook and school newspaper earned her selection to a national convention of high school journalists in Chicago during her senior year. She also credited her habit of “talking to herself”—perpetually creating different scenarios and characters in her mind—with fueling her creativity. “My unspoken conversations were honing my ability to tell a story and share my thoughts and feelings with others,” she wrote.
Kehret graduated from Austin High School in 1954 and began her freshman studies at the University of Minnesota where her high school sweetheart Carl E. Kehret was a senior. The couple were married in July 1955, and shortly after that, they moved to northern California, where Peg’s parents had recently been transferred.
Kehret enjoyed working for a temporary agency until 1959 when she and Carl welcomed son Bob and she happily focused on motherhood. Their daughter Anne followed two years later. Once her children were both in school, the family relocated to Seattle in the early 1970s, and Kehret turned her attention to writing, drafting magazine articles, stories, and short plays, “pounding away” on the Smith Corona portable typewriter she had received as a high school graduation gift from her parents. She sold several hundred pieces before deciding she would rather create something with more staying power.
By the late 1970s, she poured her full efforts into getting a book published, trying a series of projects and first succeeding with a book of wedding vows she sold to an editor friend at Meriwether Publishing, Wedding Vows: How to Express Your Love in Your Own Words (1979). A book of monologues Kehret wrote from a kid’s POV, as audition material for acting students, cemented her interest in writing for children. “I knew I was now a children’s author,” she wrote in her autobiography. “I had found my voice as a writer.”
Kehret sold her debut children’s mystery novel, Deadly Stranger (1987), to the first publisher that she submitted it to: Dodd, Mead. She worked with editor Roseanne Lauer, with whom she would go on to publish many titles at Dutton’s Children’s Books.
Kehret largely wrote suspenseful middle grade mysteries, including the Frightmares series for Pocket Books in the mid-1990s, but also published a number of books focused on animal welfare, including Cages (Cobblehill, 1991), about a girl caught stealing and sentenced to work at the humane society; The Hideout (Pocket, 2001), about bear poaching; and Saving Lilly (Pocket, 2001), in which a group of kids works to rescue a mistreated circus elephant. Three of her books were even “co-authored” by her pet, Pete the Cat, whose detective skills help solve the characters’ central mystery. Kehret launched an Animal Club for Kids for her young fans. Members had donations made in their names to animal aid organizations and got the opportunity to win autographed books.
In all, Kehret created more than 40 books for young readers and amassed numerous state book awards, which she loved receiving during school visits around the country. She volunteered at the Seattle humane society for more than 25 years, and additionally fostered cats. In assessing her career in her autobiography, she wrote, “I hope my books will continue to help young people know the joy of reading, the satisfaction of volunteering for a worthy cause, and the importance of leading an honorable life.”
Roseann Lauer, Kehret’s first and longtime children’s book editor, shared this remembrance: “When I went to Dutton Children’s Books in l989, Peg came along and we had a wonderful working relationship for the next 30 years. Peg was a thoughtful and understanding person, great to work with. She especially enjoyed her interactions with her young fans and always tried to answer their letters. In the early years, she and her husband Carl traveled in their RV across the country visiting schools and accepting the many Children’s Choice awards she won. Although we only met twice in person, I felt we had a close relationship. Even after I retired and Peg stopped writing we kept in touch, often chatting by email about our pets and the books we were reading. She will be missed.”
Ginger Knowlton, executive VP of Curtis Brown Ltd., and Kehret’s agent, offered this appreciation: “When Peg’s literary agent of 30 years, Emilie Jacobson, retired in 2010, she asked whether I might be interested in working with Peg. Emmy wrote to me, ‘Peg is a pro of long standing, a pleasure to work with, and savvier about deciphering, and asking questions about, royalty statements than most authors.’ It was high praise, and entirely deserved.
Anyone who has read Peg’s books knows how deeply she loved animals. About 10 years ago, I was lucky to spend a day with her in September at the cabin she called home at the foot of Mount Rainier. It was a magical place, brimming with life and filled with calm and peace—much like Peg herself—and so many wild and domestic animals and birds to keep her company.
Peg wrote what she loved, and her emails were as engaging and entertaining as her manuscripts. She often ended her messages with a small, vivid description of the moment, like this: ‘Rhodies and lilacs in full bloom; bluebells around the big stump. A hummingbird and an elk at the same time last night—the smallest and largest of my wildlife.’ And sometimes, instead of a scene, she closed with practical wisdom: ‘Bottom line: No action needed. Go eat a cookie.’ ”
