Lois Duncan, American author, poet and journalist, was born April 28, 1934, in Philadelphia, Pa. to parents who were professional circus photographers.

She described herself as a shy child who was a dreamer and loved books. By age 10, she was sending articles to magazines and by 13, she sold her first story. She had a younger brother.

Her parents moved to Florida when she was still young and she grew up among circus people. In 1952, she graduated from Sarasota, Fla. high school, enrolled in Duke University, but left shortly to marry Joseph Cardozo. After nine years, they divorced and she and her children moved to Albuquerque, N.M. where she continued writing for magazines and designing greeting cards. She got a job teaching journalism at the University of New Mexico without a teaching degree. She did enroll in her own university classes and got a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1977.

Her second marriage to electrical engineer Donald Arquette was in 1965. They had two children, Donald, Jr. and Kaitlyn. Her three children from her first marriage, daughters Robin and Kerry and son Brett all took the Arquette name. Her youngest daughter, Kaitlyn was murdered in 1989 in Albuquerque, N.M. and Lois published a book ‘Who Killed My Daughter?’ Her murderer was eventually found and sentenced for hers and two other murders.

Known for her tense, scary stories for teenagers, historians say Lois was a founder of Young Adult novels of horror, thriller and suspense. Six of her novels became TV movies and two box office hits. After her daughters’ death, she changed to writing children’s picture books. Her first book, ‘Love Song for Joyce,’ was published in 1958.

When Lois passed away June 15, 2016 in Bradenton, Fla. she was survived by her husband, two daughters, two sons and six grandchildren.

We have her (YAF) ‘Locked in Time’ and (YAMF) ‘Don’t Look Behind You’ and ‘Ransom.’

The May library calendar reveals the following themes: Get Caught Reading Month; Dental Care Awareness Month; Physical Fitness and Sports Month.