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 115 books for children and adults: board books, picture books, easy readers, and chapter books. 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 started consulting for the Brown Books Publishing Group in 1999 and in May 2010, became their children's book editor. I've also consulted for Lee & Low Books, National Geographic School Publishing and Scholastic. I write about children's books each week on my six literacy blogs.

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 co-taught children's literature at the University of North Texas and taught teacher inservice for Staff Development for Educators. Today I teach writing at Southern Methodist University and online. I have written with students of all ages in classrooms and workshops all over the globe.