I grew up in a sweet-pea-sized farm town in the Midwest, population 616, give or take a cow.

My favorite day of the week in my tiny town was Friday when the bookmobile rolled up to my equally tiny elementary school. Gleefully clutching a perfect new pile of mobile books, I would run home and hunker down in my room for hours, immersing myself in the heart-thumping magic of make-believe worlds. As a writer, one of my greatest joys is learning that I’ve inspired a little one to do the official book “hunker down.” That’s my personal pinnacle—absolutely nothing better!

In addition to writing children’s books, I have created educational and editorial content for a variety of major publishing and media companies in NYC, including Scholastic, Nickelodeon, Discovery, and Condé Nast.

I’m also a part-time cat herder, constant gardener, and all-around animal aficionado, especially when it comes to elephants, lemurs, and emperor penguins. I can honestly say I’ve never met a creature I didn’t like—well, except for eels—it’s a “just no” on the eels due to the obvious sneaky-slippery factor. Full disclosure: to be fair, I’ve never met an eel, due to the obvious sneaky-slippery factor.

In between episodes of writing, cat herding, gardening, and eel avoidance, I’m a voracious reader and most happy when surrounded by teetering towers of printed, bound words, words, Words! One of my all-time favorite books as a small person, and now as a tall person, is The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

If you’d like to learn more about me, Frankie and Peaches, Favorite World Press, my Weekly Wondrous wildlife blog, and our American Forests tree-planting mission, c’mon over to www.favoriteworldpress.com. We’re always open, because internet!

And please know that when you press the enchanted “buy” button for Frankie and Peaches, somewhere in the world, a delighted someone (that would be me) is singing the “Oh, boy, we just sold a book” song. Apparently, this makes the neighbor’s dog howl, but we like to believe it’s a happy howl. So we, and the happy howling dog, thank you ever so much!

Also, a grateful and affectionate shout-out to Frankie and Peaches illustrator Srimalie Bassani, because she artistically rules and because she tends to a suave, silvery feline named Steve. Steve!