Author: Books have always been a part of my life. My mother started reading to me when I was a baby and we went to the library every week. I wrote my first picture book when I was eleven and I've been writing ever since. I wrote hundreds of manuscripts and collected rejection letters for years...and then it happened. On my fortieth birthday, the phone rang. After writing for twenty-nine years, I sold my first book! Today I've sold 166 books for children and adults: board books, picture books, easy readers, chapter books, middle grade, young adult, and professional books for adults. I've also written articles, poems, and stories for textbooks, magazines, and the web.

Consultant: In 1995 I began working as a children's literature consultant for Sadlier-Oxford. Later I joined the Rosen Publishing Group Reading Advisory Board and became a "Classroom Connections" reviewer for Book Links. I have also consulted for Brown Books Publishing Group, Lee & Low Books, National Geographic School Publishing and Scholastic. Today I write about children's books on my Booktalking #kidlit blog and in my monthly Hot Topics column for Booklist's Quick Tips for Schools & Libraries.

Teacher: I started teaching elementary school in 1977. I taught kindergarten ESL, first, fifth and sixth grades. I was teaching my young students to write, so I wrote for them and they wrote for me. After my children's books were published I went back to the classroom as a visiting author. I taught teacher inservice for Staff Development for Educators, co-taught children's literature at the University of North Texas, and taught writing at Southern Methodist University. Today I teach writing workshops online. I have worked with students of all ages in classrooms and workshops all over the globe.