About the Author

My favorite job was teaching fifth grade.

Whether we were hiking on trails around a Long Island Sound salt marsh or working in the classroom resurrecting Egyptian pharaohs to debate with current leaders, my students reminded me of the power of play and the importance of thoughtful questioning. Those two elements are the drive behind everything I write for children. But I wasn’t always destined to be a writer. I had other dreams first.

I was a shy child, and so my parents were surprised when I announced my plan to run away and join the circus as a trapeze artist. To keep me around for a while, my dad built a backyard trapeze from a piece of pipe and some rope. Hanging by my knees upside down from the branches of an old elm tree turned my ordinary world into a magical one. Just down the road was the beach where I chatted with herons, crabs, and sandpipers, and read books about brave girls like Nancy Drew.

My students never believed me when I told them I froze when I had to give an oral presentation in school. But once my passion for facilitating learning and cultivating creativity in children blossomed, so did my strong voice. It was a gift to witness my students as they wrote engaging plays and stories that highlighted their own developing strong voices which in turn inspired others. Including me.

Today I live on the CT shoreline with my husband and two bunnies, Piper and Sage, and I write every day. So every day I’m reminded of all that I’ve learned from children.

I dedicate my stories to them.

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