David R. Collins
Born: 1940 in Marshall-town, Iowa
Died: July 20, 2001 in Rock Island, Illinois Pen Name: None Connection to Illinois: Collins graduated from Rock Island High School in 1958. He then graduated from Western Illinois University in Macomb in 1962 with his bachelor's and in 1967 with his masters degree. Biography: David Collins was a teacher of children and adults for 39 years. His teaching career began at Woodrow Wilson Junior High School in the fall of 1962. He transferred to Moline High School in the fall of 1983 where he remained until his retirement in June, 1997. He taught writing classes for Scott Community College, Black Hawk College, and St. Ambrose. He also conducted numerous writing workshops. He was an author of children's books including 'The Sowers' series. He published over 80 books and numerous articles in a variety of periodicals. David founded and directed the Mississippi Valley Writer's Conference, held annually since 1974. He also founded the annual Children's Literature Festival now bearing his name. He also wrote the Moline song. He was active in Young Authors, Juvenile Forum and several other organizations related to writing and literacy. He was founder and president of the Midwest Writing Center.In 1975, he was named 'Outstanding Educator' by the Illinois Office of Education. He received the Deere Harvester Partnership Award in the 1990-1991 school year. In 1991, he was selected by The Dispatch and The Rock Island Argus as a Master Teacher. The same year he was one of the first inductees into the Rock Island High School Alumni Hall of Fame. David was chosen as one of the top 30 Quad-Cities arts and entertainment figures of the 20th century. In 1993 he was recognized as a Distinguished Alumni by the Western Illinois University Alumni Association. In 1994 he was named to Who's Who Among American Teachers.
Awards:
Selected Titles
Abraham Lincoln : ISBN: 0915134934 OCLC: 28768785 Mott Media, Milford, Mich. : 1983 printing, ©1976. Abraham Lincoln recounts the story of his life. |
|
Attack on Fort McHenry ISBN: 0763502960 OCLC: 33544265 Rigby, Crystal Lake, Ill. : ©1996. Eight-year-old Ben helps his grandfather keep the flag flying during the battle at Fort McHenry in 1814 that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the poem that became our national anthem. The words to The Star Spangled Banner are included. |
|
Benjamin Brody's backyard bag ISBN: 0871780917 OCLC: 21950770 Brethren Press, Elgin, Ill. : ©1991. Benjamin's playful experiment to find how many things he can do with an empty paper bag leads him to an informative encounter with a bag lady who has no home of her own. |
|
British writers ISBN: 0684157985 OCLC: 4493968 Scribner, New York : ©1979-©1984. This collection of critical essays covers writers who have made significant contributions to British, Irish, and Commonwealth literature from the 14th century to the present day. |
|
Casimir Pulaski : ISBN: 1565540824 OCLC: 32856296 Pelican Pub. Co., Gretna, La. : ©1996. Presents the life of the American Revolutionary War hero who was born in Poland and whose marble bust graces the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C. |
|
Charles Lindbergh, hero pilot ISBN: 0791014177 OCLC: 21520450 Chelsea Juniors, New York : 1991. A biography of the aviator who made the first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. |
|
Clara Barton ISBN: 1577486013 OCLC: 44757009 Barbour Pub., Uhrichsville, Ohio : ©1999. The battlefields of the American Civil War were this young nurse's first mission field. She founded the American Red Cross. |
|
Davenport : ISBN: 0738507288 OCLC: 45270134 Arcadia, Chicago, Ill. : ©2000. |
|
Dr. Shinichi Suzuki : ISBN: 9781883846497 OCLC: 47176986 Morgan Reynolds, Greensboro, N.C. : ©2002. A biography of the Japanese violin teacher who developed the Suzuki Method, a way of teaching children how to play certain musical instruments at a very early age. Summary Believing that everyone has talent if given the opportunity to develop it, Dr. Suzuki developed a new method of teaching children to play the violin and other musical instruments. |
|
Eng & Chang : ISBN: 0875186025 OCLC: 28633887 Dillon Press ; New York : ©1994. A biography of Eng and Chang, the congenitally united twins born in Siam (Thailand) in 1811. |
|
Farmworker's friend : ISBN: 1575050315 OCLC: 33281757 Carolrhoda Books, Minneapolis : ©1996. Examines the life and accomplishments of the Mexican American labor activist who helped organize migrant farm workers and establish a union to fight for their rights. |
|
Frances [sic] Scott Key : ISBN: 9780915134915 OCLC: 8841120 Mott Media, Milford, Mich. : 1982. A story of the life of Francis Scott Key, the man who wrote the National Anthem. |
|
Grandfather woo goes to school / ISBN: 0883357968 OCLC: 221463789 Milliken Pub. Co., St Louis, Mo. : 1990. Willie is upset when his blind grandfather is invited to visit his class. |
|
Grover Cleveland : ISBN: 0944483011 OCLC: 17300660 Garrett Educational Corp., Ada, Okla. : ©1988. Follows the life of Grover Cleveland from birth to death, including his childhood, education, employment, and political career. |
|
Harry S. Truman : ISBN: 0791014215 OCLC: 21482798 Chelsea Juniors, New York : 1991. A brief biography of the common man from Missouri who bacame the thirty-third President of the United States. |
|
Hero on horseback : ISBN: 1565542665 OCLC: 36201469 Pelican Pub., Gretna, LA : 1997. Presents the life of the American Revolutionary War hero, from his childhood in Poland to his role in developing a cavalry unit for the American patriots and his death in battle. |
|
Huey P. Long : ISBN: 1565549139 OCLC: 50560457 Pelican Pub., Gretna, LA : 2003. Presents a biography of the Louisiana governor, Huey P. Long, known as Kingfish. |
|
Ishi : ISBN: 1883846544 OCLC: 903506739 Morgan Reynolds, Greensboro, N.C. : ©2000. |
|
J.R.R. Tolkien ISBN: 0822524708 OCLC: 56969667 Lerner, Minneapolis : ©2005. Discusses the life, works, and influence of this reknowned British author. |
|
James Buchanan, 15th president of the United States ISBN: 0944483623 OCLC: 20391983 Garrett Educational Corp., Ada, Okla. : ©1990. Presents the life of James Buchanan, including his childhood, education, employment, and political career. |
|
Johnny Appleseed : ISBN: 0880621346 OCLC: 10751353 Mott Media, Milford, Mich. : ©1985. A first-person narrative of the life of the legendary figure who traveled across the American frontier planting apple trees and carrying the Christian faith to pioneer families. |
|
Kim Soo and his tortoise / ISBN: 0874602262 OCLC: 238532 Lion Press, New York : ©1970. A poor Japanese boy's pet tortoise helps him win a wish from the Emperor. |
|
Linda Richards : ISBN: 0811663132 OCLC: 614245 Garrard, Champaign, Ill. : ©1973. A brief biography of the woman whose concern for the sick led her to become the first professional nurse in the United States in 1873. |
|
Machine learning and knowledge discovery in databases. ISBN: 9783642334863 OCLC: 810326912 Springer, Berlin ; ©2012. This two-volume set LNAI 7523 and LNAI 7524 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the European Conference on Machine Learning and Knowledge Discovery in Databases: ECML PKDD 2012, held in Bristol, UK, in September 2012. The 105 revised research papers presented together with 5 invited talks were carefully reviewed and selected from 443 submissions. The final sections of the proceedings are devoted to Demo and Nectar papers. The Demo track includes 10 papers (from 19 submissions) and the Nectar track includes 4 papers (from 14 submissions). The papers grouped in topical sections on association rules and frequent patterns; Bayesian learning and graphical models; classification; dimensionality reduction, feature selection and extraction; distance-based methods and kernels; ensemble methods; graph and tree mining; large-scale, distributed and parallel mining and learning; multi-relational mining and learning; multi-task learning; natural language processing; online learning and data streams; privacy and security; rankings and recommendations; reinforcement learning and planning; rule mining and subgroup discovery; semi-supervised and transductive learning; sensor data; sequence and string mining; social network mining; spatial and geographical data mining; statistical methods and evaluation; time series and temporal data mining; and transfer learning. |
|
Magnificent failure : ISBN: 081984800X OCLC: 40752868 Pauline Books & Media, Boston, Mass. : 1999. A brief biography of the Capuchin priest who struggled academically while young and in the seminary, but who then became widely known for his patient listening and counsel and for his prayers which sometimes led to miraculous results. |
|
Mark T-W-A-I-N! ISBN: 9780822589105 OCLC: 1083463079 Lerner Publishing Group, Minneapolis : 1993. |
|
Moline : ISBN: 0752412833 OCLC: 39777693 Arcadia, Charleston, SC : ©1998. An overview, with more than 200 historic photographs, of the dynamic river town of Moline, Illinois located on the southern shore of the mighty Mississippi River. |
|
Noah Webster, master of words ISBN: 0880621583 OCLC: 19325050 Mott Media, Milford, Mich. : ©1989. A biography of the teacher who authored the first dictionary written in the United States. |
|
Philip Knight--running with Nike ISBN: 1560740205 OCLC: 24590143 Garrett Educational Corp., Ada, Okla. : ©1991. Describes how entrepreneur Philip Knight developed the successful Nike company. |
|
Pioneer plowmaker : ISBN: 9780761382638 OCLC: 756913171 Millbrook Press, Minneapolis : ©1990. A biography of the inventor and manufacturer who produced one of the first self-scouring plows. |
|
Ride a red dinosaur ISBN: 0883357267 OCLC: 16785450 Milliken Pub. Co., St. Louis, Mo. : ©1987. Grandma takes a young boy on several fanciful journeys with the aid of a red dinosaur, blue polar bear, magical umbrella, pirate ship, and leaping leopard. |
|
Rock Island : ISBN: 0738501573 OCLC: 42805553 Arcadia, Charleston, S.C. : ©1999. |
|
Tales for hard times : ISBN: 9780822589143 OCLC: 777953569 Lerner ; Minneapolis, Minn. : 2007. As a small boy, Charles Dickens worked in a dark, musty London warehouse, pasting labels onto pots of boot polish. He tried not to listen to his grumbling stomach or the rats squeaking on the stairs. His dream was to escape that misery one day and become a fine, educated gentleman. Through his gift for writing, that day did come for Dickens. But he never forgot what it was like to be poor. He wrote stories about London's lower classes-- tales that made people laugh, cry, and work to improve social conditions. |
|
The country artist : ISBN: 9780822536963 OCLC: 772628045 Millbrook Press, Minneapolis : ©1989. A biography of the English author and illustrator who grew up during the Victorian era and whose detailed drawings of plants and animals found their way into her famous picture books. |
|
The greatest life ever lived / ISBN: 0871783258 OCLC: 21977076 FaithQuest, Elgin, IL : ©1991. A retelling of the events in the life of Jesus Christ. |
|
Tiger Woods : ISBN: 1565543211 OCLC: 37492396 Pelican Pub., Gretna, La. : 1999. A biography of the talented young golfer who won his first U.S. Amateur Championship in 1994 at age 19 and the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia, in 1997. |
|
To the point : ISBN: 9780761382683 OCLC: 760887002 Carolrhoda Books, Minneapolis : ©1989. Follows the life of the popular author of essays, poems, and children's books, from his childhood in rural New York State to his death at the age of eighty-six. |
|
Washington Irving : ISBN: 1883846501 OCLC: 42592737 Morgan Reynolds, Greensboro, N.C. : ©2000. A biography of one of America's earliest great literary figures who also served as a diplomat in Spain. |
|
William Jefferson Clinton : ISBN: 1560740566 OCLC: 32018326 Garrett Educational Corp., Ada, Okla. : ©1995. Traces the life of President Bill Clinton from his childhood to the present, focusing on his political career. |
|
Woodrow Wilson, 28th president of the United States ISBN: 0944483186 OCLC: 18442370 Garrett Educational Corp., Ada, Okla. : ©1989. Presents a biography of the statesman who grew up in the South during the Civil War and served as President of Princeton University, Governor of New Jersey, and President of the United States during World War I. |
|
Write a book for me : ISBN: 1883846390 OCLC: 40645912 Morgan Reynolds, Greensboro, N.C. : 1999. Describes the childhood, writing career, and personal life of the author Marguerite Henry, known for her books about horses. |
|
Zachary Taylor, 12th president of the United States ISBN: 0944483178 OCLC: 18442175 Garrett Educational Corp., Ada, Okla. : ©1989. Tells the life story of a military man elected president in 1848. Traces the childhood, education, employment, political career, and presidency of the man nicknamed Old Rough and Ready. |