Born April 14, 1957, in Hicksville, NY; son of Robert H. (a bank vice president) and Jeanne A. (a teacher) Schmidt; married Anne E. Stickney (a writer), December 22, 1979; children: James, Kathleen, Rebecca, David, Margaret, Benjamin. Education: Gordon College, B.A., 1979; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, M.A., 1981, Ph.D., 1985. Religion: Christian Reformed. Avocational Interests: Gardening. Memberships: Children's Literature Association, Early English Text Society, Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Alpha Chi. Addresses: Homeoffice: Alto, MI. Office: Department of English, Calvin College, 1795 Knollcrest Cir., Grand Rapids, MI 49546. E-mail: schg@calvin.edu.

JUVENILE

• John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, illustrated by Barry Moser, Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 1994, also published as Pilgrim's Progress, 2008.
• Robert Frost, illustrated by Henri Sorensen, Sterling Publishing (New York, NY), 1994.
• The Sin Eater (novel), Dutton (New York, NY), 1996.
• The Blessing of the Lord: Stories from the Old and New Testaments, illustrated by Dennis Nolan, Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 1997.
• William Bradford: Pilgrim of Answerable Courage, Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 1997.
• Anson's Way (novel), Clarion Books (New York, NY), 1999.
• William Bradford: Plymouth's Faithful Pilgrim, Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 1999.
• Saint Ciaran: The Tale of a Saint of Ireland, illustrated by Todd Doney, Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 2000.
• (Editor, with Frances Schoonmaker Bolin and Brod Bagert) The Blackbirch Treasury of American Poetry, Blackbirch Press (Woodbridge, CT), 2001.
• Mara's Stories, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2001.
• Straw into Gold (novel), Clarion Books (New York, NY), 2001.
• The Wonders of Donal O'Donnell: A Folktale of Ireland, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2002.
• The Great Stone Face: A Tale by Nathaniel Hawthorne, illustrated by Bill Farnsworth, Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 2002.
• Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy (novel), Clarion Books (New York, NY), 2004.
• First Boy (novel), Holt (New York, NY), 2005.
• The Wednesday Wars (novel), Clarion Books (New York, NY), 2007.
• Trouble (novel), Clarion Books (New York, NY), 2008.

• Supplementary Essays for College Writers, Prentice-Hall (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), 1988, third edition, 1993.
• (Editor, with Charlotte F. Otten) The Voice of the Narrator in Children's Literature: Insights from Writers and Critics, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT), 1989.
• Robert McCloskey, Twayne (Boston, MA), 1990.
• Hugh Lofting, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1992.
• (Editor, with Donald R. Hettinga) Sitting at the Feet of the Past: Retelling the North American Folktale for Children, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT), 1992.
• (Editor, with William J. Vande Kopple) Communities of Discourse: The Rhetoric of Disciplines (includes instructor's manual), Prentice-Hall (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), 1993.
• Katherine Paterson, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1994.
• The Iconography of the Mouth of Hell: Eighth-Century Britain to the Fifteenth Century, Susquehanna University Press (Cranbury, NJ), 1995.
• Robert Lawson, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1997.
• (With Carol Winters) Edging the Boundaries of Children's Literature, Allyn & Bacon (Boston, MA), 2001.
• (Editor, with Susan M. Felch) Winter: A Spiritual Biography of the Season, illustrated by Barry Moser, Skylight Paths Publishing (Woodstock, VT), 2003.
• (Editor, with Susan M. Felch) Autumn: A Spiritual Biography of the Season, illustrated by Barry Moser, Skylight Paths Publishing (Woodstock, VT), 2004.
• A Passionate Usefulness: The Life and Literary Labors of Hannah Adams, University of Virginia Press (Charlottesville, VA), 2004.
• (With Lawrence Kushner) In God's Hands, Jewish Lights Publishing (Woodstock, VT), 2005.
• (Editor, with Susan M. Felch) Summer: A Spiritual Biography of the Season, illustrated by Barry Moser, Skylight Paths Publishing (Woodstock, VT), 2005.
• (Editor, with Susan M. Felch) Spring: A Spiritual Biography of the Season, illustrated by Mary Azarian, Skylight Paths Publishing (Woodstock, VT), 2006.
• (Editor, with Susan M. Felch) The Emmaus Readers: Listening for God in Contemporary Fiction, Paraclete Press (Brewster, MA), 2008.

Contributor to books, including Text and Matter: New Critical Perspectives of the Pearl Poet, edited by Robert J. Blanch, Miriam Miller, and Julian Wasserman, Whitston (Troy, NY), 1991. Contributor of articles, essays, stories, poems, and reviews to journals, including Christian Home and School, Lion and the Unicorn, Studies in American Humor, Christian Educators Journal, and Martha's KidLit Newsletter. Guest editor, Children's Literature Association Quarterly, 1989.