Author Amy Houts
 Photo by Bob Delsol
Amy is the author of 100+ books for children. She writes for both faith-based and general market publishers. Amy’s faith-based books include bath books, Noah's Ark and The Creation, God's Earth is Something to Fight For (Sunbeam/Bushel & Peck Books), Christian Q&A Book for Kids (Rockridge Press), and God’s Protection Covers Me (Beaming Books). Amy’s educational books include 60 retold tales for the series, Compass Children’s Classics, 2020. Her 10 nonfiction science early readers for Highlights were also released in 2020.
Amy won two awards in 2020 for her picture book, God's Protection Covers Me, the Christian Market Children’s Book of the Year, second place, and the Angel Book Award, second place. Her books, activities, and poetry have won the Moonbeam Children’s Book Award, Dr. Toy Best Vacation Children’s Product Award, Missouri Writers’ Guild Walter William Major Work Award, Creative Child Magazine “Seal of Excellence” Award, and more. As a longtime member of the Missouri Writers Guild (MWG) and the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI), Amy enjoys its online community and regional conferences. Observing young children when Amy taught preschool at Head Start and as a graduate assistant in the Early Childhood Department of Northwest Missouri State University helps her to write authentically. For seven years, Amy taught the course, “Writing for Children & Teenagers,” through the Institute of Children’s Literature. |
 Amy's mother, Betty Farber, Amy, and her older sister, Nancy.
Amy's lab-mix, Tori, keeps her company while she writes.
Amy and her husband, Steve, live in rural Northwest Missouri, an hour from Steve’s family farm. Amy and Steve are the parents of two grown daughters and three grandchildren.
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What people are saying about Amy:
"Amy, tonight I think I've read On The Farm to my 2-year old about 180 nights in a row. He won't go to bed without a full presentation, including voices, posing like Farmer Lyle and finishing the story with him pulling on his ear and saying, 'Baby' (the last word in the book). Just wanted to say thank you from a dad who loves to watch his son's face light up ... And it does from your book."
--Brett Payne, father of a two-year old boy
"Amy Houts is a long-time member of the First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Missouri. As her pastor for the past 4 years, I have come to know observe and work with her in a variety of settings and have seen examples of her splendid writing. She is of the highest moral character, is quite intelligent and, as you can see in her work, knows her readership and can write for them in engaging, faithful and interesting ways. I commend her to you without the slightest reservation."
--Scott Moon, pastor, First United Methodist Church
“Amy has been a very creative and flexible writer to work with over the past few years at Learning Horizons; she has taken on various projects for our different licensed programs and has always produced high-quality work in a very short time in order to beat our rushed deadlines. Beyond the basic expectation of following guidelines and revision suggestions extremely well, Amy has shown a genuine interest in each and every one of her writing tasks and has truly captured our educational philosophy in her work.”
--Joanna Robinson, former editorial manager, Learning Horizons
"I am privileged to know Amy and have worked with her on several book projects. She is very knowledgeable about writing and publishing and has received numerous honors for her work. She is a very thoughtful, creative, and dependable writer. Her work gets done by deadline and it's a delight to work with her."
--Lee Jackson, author and publisher, Images Unlimited Publishing
"Amy is a pleasure to work with. She is a thorough professional who provides accurate, clear, original text and art specs written to guidelines and addresses pedagogical points smoothly and completely."
--Cindy Kane, editor, Six Red Marbles
"Thank you, again, for your timely and excellent work. These biographies can be really tough, especially when they’re in the 12,000-word range. But you did an excellent job of keeping the content diverse and showing the natural progression of Rachel Maddow's career. Your writing style progresses so logically, is expertly organized, and makes for an enjoyable manuscript to edit."
--Jacob R. Steinberg, assistant editor, The Rosen Publishing Group
“I have some news I want to share with you because I think my success story is also yours. You helped me a lot during the writing course to find my voice and to write about what I love. The big news is that I won the more prestigious children's book award held in Latin America called "Premio El Barco de Vapor.” I just wanted to say THANK YOU for all the inspiration, confidence, and tools you helped me with. I'm very happy I'm still working from home as a writer; it's been a blessing!"
-- Isabel, Amy's student, "Writing for Children and Teenagers," Institute of Children’s Literature graduate
"Amy, tonight I think I've read On The Farm to my 2-year old about 180 nights in a row. He won't go to bed without a full presentation, including voices, posing like Farmer Lyle and finishing the story with him pulling on his ear and saying, 'Baby' (the last word in the book). Just wanted to say thank you from a dad who loves to watch his son's face light up ... And it does from your book."
--Brett Payne, father of a two-year old boy
"Amy Houts is a long-time member of the First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Missouri. As her pastor for the past 4 years, I have come to know observe and work with her in a variety of settings and have seen examples of her splendid writing. She is of the highest moral character, is quite intelligent and, as you can see in her work, knows her readership and can write for them in engaging, faithful and interesting ways. I commend her to you without the slightest reservation."
--Scott Moon, pastor, First United Methodist Church
“Amy has been a very creative and flexible writer to work with over the past few years at Learning Horizons; she has taken on various projects for our different licensed programs and has always produced high-quality work in a very short time in order to beat our rushed deadlines. Beyond the basic expectation of following guidelines and revision suggestions extremely well, Amy has shown a genuine interest in each and every one of her writing tasks and has truly captured our educational philosophy in her work.”
--Joanna Robinson, former editorial manager, Learning Horizons
"I am privileged to know Amy and have worked with her on several book projects. She is very knowledgeable about writing and publishing and has received numerous honors for her work. She is a very thoughtful, creative, and dependable writer. Her work gets done by deadline and it's a delight to work with her."
--Lee Jackson, author and publisher, Images Unlimited Publishing
"Amy is a pleasure to work with. She is a thorough professional who provides accurate, clear, original text and art specs written to guidelines and addresses pedagogical points smoothly and completely."
--Cindy Kane, editor, Six Red Marbles
"Thank you, again, for your timely and excellent work. These biographies can be really tough, especially when they’re in the 12,000-word range. But you did an excellent job of keeping the content diverse and showing the natural progression of Rachel Maddow's career. Your writing style progresses so logically, is expertly organized, and makes for an enjoyable manuscript to edit."
--Jacob R. Steinberg, assistant editor, The Rosen Publishing Group
“I have some news I want to share with you because I think my success story is also yours. You helped me a lot during the writing course to find my voice and to write about what I love. The big news is that I won the more prestigious children's book award held in Latin America called "Premio El Barco de Vapor.” I just wanted to say THANK YOU for all the inspiration, confidence, and tools you helped me with. I'm very happy I'm still working from home as a writer; it's been a blessing!"
-- Isabel, Amy's student, "Writing for Children and Teenagers," Institute of Children’s Literature graduate
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