Thomas Rhodes Rockwell (March 13, 1933 – September 27, 2024) was an American author of children's books, best known for writing How to Eat Fried Worms.
He got the idea of writing children's books when he started reading to his own son, Barnaby.
[1] Although it was rejected by 23 publishers before finally coming out in print, the book sold well over 3 million copies and received the Mark Twain Award, the California Young Reader Medal, and the Sequoyah Book Award.
[1] In 2013, Rockwell and his daughter, Abigail, “vehemently condemned” Deborah Solomon’s book American Mirror, a falsified biography of Norman Rockwell[4] which floated unsupported theories that he was gay and experienced "pedophilic impulses".
[2] He died from complications of Parkinson's disease at a hospice in Danbury, Connecticut, on September 27, 2024, at the age of 91.