About Me

I was born in Nyack, New York, which is a small village on the banks of the Hudson River, about 35 miles north of New York City. Growing up in the 1960s and 1970s was a lot of fun. My friends and I had a degree of freedom that is unheard of today. It was not unusual for us to jump on our bikes to explore the world and not come home until it got dark! Some of my favorite memories include walking along the river, hiking in the woods, and spending hours and hours in our local library.

That's me when I was a baby, with our ginger cat, Skippy.

Here I am with my sister. Music has always been a big part of our lives.

    I always had a knack for writing and dreamed of being an author from the time I was a little girl. English was always my favorite subject, so it was no surprise to anyone that I majored in English (with a minor in History) when I went to college. During my senior year, I was lucky enough to accept an internship with Morrow Junior Books, a major children’s book publisher. From my first day in the office, I knew that children’s literature was the place I wanted to spend my life. My internship only lasted eight weeks, but a few months later my boss called and offered me a full-time job as his assistant as soon as I graduated from college. I graduated on a Sunday and on Tuesday morning I was at my desk in Morrow’s New York City offices. Over the next three years I learned how to find great manuscripts, how to edit books, and how to write advertising copy. I worked with top authors such as Beverly Cleary, Norma Fox Mazer, and Johanna Hurwitz. The highlight of my days at Morrow was co-editing Norma Fox Mazer’s 1987 Newbery Honor Book, After the Rain.

  After three years at Morrow, I was ready for more responsibilities and moved into a job as an editor and writer at Troll Associates. At the time, Troll was one of the major players in the children’s book club market. I edited many books and helped launch Troll’s Bridgewater Books trade imprint. Best of all, I really started publishing my work. Troll had an in-house department of writers and artists that created books for their clubs, fairs, and other publishing programs. I published my first book as a Troll author, called A Picture Book of Birds.

Our beautiful cat, Isabella.

Our dog, Sweetpea.

  I learned a lot at Troll, but circumstances changed there after the company’s founders retired. I left my job there at the end of 1995 and began the new year of 1996 as a full-time freelancer. Since then, I’ve branched out to working for many major publishers, including Capstone, Scholastic, Rosen, Enslow, Gareth Stevens, ABDO, and Rourke, to name just a few. I’ve also moved into the curriculum market and created test passages and questions and classroom materials for Macmillan, CTB McGraw-Hill, Harcourt, and other major academic publishers. 

  I still live in the same area where I grew up, only I’ve moved west, away from the river and closer to the mountains. I have a wonderful husband who is a chef, and together we have adopted four beautiful children from China. So I wear many hats—mother, wife, and writer, just to name a few!

My children enjoying some of the many books I've written.