About The Author

How did you get started writing for kids?

It never occurred to me that I might try writing my own stories until I was in high school, where I had encouragement from an English teacher who saw promise in my work. Being the late bloomer that I am, it was many years after that before I even considered trying to get published and by then I'd had a child and had fallen in love with children's books all over again. I knew that stories for children were what I wanted to write.

Where do you live?

I live in Illinois. I have also lived in Ottawa, Ontario; Frankenmuth, Michigan, a small town in the crook of Michigan's "thumb;" Mount Pleasant, Michigan; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Okemos and Lansing, Michigan; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Palatine, Illinois; Oak Park, Illinois; and Mokena, Illinois. Incidentally, I was born in Defiance . . . Defiance, Ohio.

Gosh, that's a lot of places. You must be hundreds of years old, right?

Well, I was born in 1962. And I've moved a lot.

Are you married?

I've been married to my husband, Ralph, for 26 years!

Do you have any children?

Yeah, I have one of those, a very smart and handsome son named Nikolai. He's a grown-up now and he lives in Massachusetts.

Do you have any pets?

Besides worms, you mean? Yes, I have three cats. Their names are Emma M., Mephistopheles, and Lupe.

Do you have a worm farm?

I sure do! It's not acres and acres, mind you, but it's a plastic bin under my deck, and I feed my worms kitchen scraps, just like Winnie Finn.