Susan Middleton Elya

Susan Middleton Elya is a bilingual children’s author known for picture books that weave Spanish vocabulary into English verse. She grew up in Iowa and earned a dual degree in Spanish and elementary education from Iowa State University, later completing a master’s degree in linguistics at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Before becoming a full-time writer, she taught Spanish and English/ESL in Nebraska, Iowa, and California, and developed a Spanish program and curriculum at Lewis Central Middle School in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Her travels and studies in Mexico, Venezuela, and Spain inform the cultural and linguistic richness of her work.

Elya has written dozens of picture books, including Rubia and the Three Osos, Say Hola to Spanish, Eight Animals on the Town, Eight Animals Bake a Cake, Home at Last, Oh No, Gotta Go!, Bebé Goes Shopping, Fire! Fuego! Brave Bomberos, Little Roja Riding Hood, La Madre Goose: Nursery Rhymes for Los Niños, and La Princesa and the Pea, many of which are noted for their playful “Spanglish” texts and appeal in bilingual classrooms. She lives in Northern California and continues to write rhyming, bilingual picture books for children.