Cheryl Ware, the author of four remarkable children’s novels, will be honored by the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University with its Alumni Recognition Award.

The award will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 30, in the Gold Ballroom of the Mountainlair.

As part of the ceremony, Ware will read from her works. The event, also sponsored by the Department of English, is free and open to the public.

A native of Belington, Ware earned a master’s degree in English from WVU .

She currently lives in Elkins, where she writes for a national audience. She also conducts workshops across the state with students and teachers to improve the writing skills of West Virginia’s children.

Her writing career began in 1996 with”Flea Circus Summer.”It immediately won national attention and was selected as one of the outstanding books for boys and girls that year by the Junior Literary Guild.

A second book,”Catty-Cornered,”joined amazon.com’s 1998 list of the top 20 best new books for older readers.

These two books, plus a third,”Venola in Love,”comprise the delightful”Venola Mae”series, chronicling the adventures of fictional Venola Mae Cutright of Belington, W.Va, rendered in epistolary form.

Ware’s fourth book,”Roberta Price Has Head Lice!”released in 2004, is illustrated by West Virginia artist Cyndy Collins. This book, which Ware says offers a way for teachers to approach a delicate subject, also serves another purpose.

“With the emphasis on character education and anti-bullying in the schools, teachers can use the book as a lead-in to these discussions,”Ware said.

WVU English professor Gail Adams remembers Ware as a graduate student in her fiction workshops.

With great affection and respect for her craft as a writer of children’s literature, Adams said of Ware:”It’s wonderful to see the success that Cheryl has achieved as a writer and also as a great writing workshop leader. For those of us who first read her stories when she was a student at WVU , this will come as no surprise.”

The Eberly College Alumni Recognition Award celebrates Ware’s accomplishments in education and in the field of children’s literature.

For more information on this event, contact Andrea Soccorsi, Department of English, andrea.soccorsi@mail.wvu.edu or 304-293-3107 ext. 33404.