Frances Temple was born in 1945 to Frederick and Lindsay Crumpler Nolting in Washington, D.C., where her father served as a diplomat. She attended Wellesley College from 1963 to 1965. Then she became a member of the Peace Corps and served in Sierra Leone, West Africa, from 1965 to 1967. In 1969 she earned a B.A. in English and African studies at the University of North Carolina. From 1970 to 1974 she worked as a VISTA volunteer in Virginia, placing needy families in low-income housing and acquiring health services for them.

She received her M.Ed. at the University of Virginia in 1976. From 1983 to 1995 she taught second grade at Children's Hours School in Geneva, New York. Between 1990 and 1995 she wrote several books on how to teach writing to children, as well as several novels for young readers.

On July 19, 1969, Frances Nolting married Charles Temple, an education professor and writer. Their...