Trivia / Rosemary Wells

• Dub Name Change: Some of her books were given different names when it got translated in different countries along with some of her characters
  • Timothy Goes To School is called Timothée va à l'école (literal translation) in France
  • Hazel's Amazing Mother is called La estupenda mamá de Roberta in Spanish
  • Benjamin & Tulip is called Lucas y Virginia in Spanish.
  • Noisy Nora is known in Spanish as Julieta, estáte quieta (Juliet, be quiet)
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: Some of her older books from the 70's and 80's are usually out of print. Some haven't been reprinted for decades. Especially her earliest books such as "Impossible Possum" from 1971 and "Benjamin & Tulip" from 1973. Even Wells herself has trouble keeping track of her past books as mentioned in one of her replies to a fanmail.
  "I do not have copies of these books nor can I remember the details. It must sound strange for an author but when TV and copycat books get into the mix decisions come along fast and I don't always keep track, about 20 years and many books later!"
• Milestone Celebration: The book "Yoko Writes Her Name" came out on the 10th anniversary of Yoko's first book appereance. Even the story is similar to the 1998 book.
• Reclusive Artist: She has a short biography page on her official website. Not that much is known about her history behind her writing and illustrating career besides her interviews on various websites and her appearances at book-related events or signings. If you can get a hold of it, the video by Scholastic A Visit with Rosemary Wells has some good info.
• Science Marches On: The Bunny Planet. No Goldilocks planets "twenty light-years south of Mars". For a time, though, it looked like one of the Gliese 581 planets might qualify.
• She Also Did: Worked on some of the illustrations for some of the Rodgers and Hammerstein songs.
• Write Who You Know: Some of her characters are based on real life people she knew or known from her daughters.
  • The characters Max and Ruby were based on both of her daughters.
  • Charles was based on her best friend from school.
  • Yoko is based on one of the Japanese students her daughters remember seeing getting teased on.
  • Many of her animal characters show behaviors influenced by behaviors she observed in her dogs.