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I grew up in Walla Walla, Washington. When I was little, I wanted to be an astronomer. (The bear in the photo is named Ursa Major, like the constellation.) Then I wanted to be a singer. Then I wanted to be a writer. Today I write kids’ books and sing in a choir. I guess two out of three's not bad!

(Okay, I also wanted to work in a piano factory and paste the labels on new pianos, but let's just ignore that one.)

My dad was a math professor, and my mom taught English. My sister got all the math brains, but some of my mom's word sense rubbed off on me, thank goodness.

After college, I became a street musician. If you're looking for a great way to freak out your parents, tell them you're going to be a street musician when you grow up.
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Then I worked in an office typing memos for accountants. When the accountants weren't looking, I wrote screenplays. I found that if I glowered at the computer screen and yelled, "Criminy!" once in a while, everyone thought I was typing a very demanding memo and left me alone.

I finally decided to write for kids. At first my stories were pretty awful, but I kept trying. They got better in time--but writing sure is a lot of work! Luckily, I have a bunch of great writing friends that help me. We read each other's manuscripts and make suggestions. And whenever I say I'm going to get a job pasting labels on pianos because writing is too hard, they talk me out of it.

My cat Bella is, of course, a tremendous help to me during the writing process, too. In fact, if you look at the author bio on the back flaps of the Here Comes Cat books, you will see that she claims credit for writing them. Who am I to argue?

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I am a huge fan of independent booksellers! If you'd like to buy my books, please patronize your local indie bookstore. They'll be happy to special-order anything that's not in stock. If you need help finding a store, check out Indiebound.org.

Welcome! Please look around to learn more about my books and about me. Join my mailing list to hear the latest news:




Thanks for stopping by!