I grew up in a big old house in Garden City, New York, a suburb of New York City. I was the third of six children in my family. Our house was a happy, boisterous place—a neighborhood "magnet" of sorts—where all manner of stray animals, people and children gravitated. My mom stayed home. My dad was a dentist. His office was attached to our house. It was always a riot when the "laughing gas" lady came. We would all wait in the living room on the other side of the wall where he worked. When my dad gave her the anesthesia she would laugh so hard we would all fall on the floor laughing ourselves!

My parents loved to read, especially mysteries and books about history and politics. At bedtime they would read to us from great children’s classics like Black Beauty, Hansel and Gretel, and The Ugly Duckling. I can still remember curling up in my father’s warm arms on a cold night as he read "Eldorado," one of my favorite poems by Edgar Allen Poe. I always looked forward to bedtime. With a book I could travel to faraway or dangerous places from the safety of my own little bed!

I never thought about being a writer until high school, when my tenth grade English teacher encouraged me to become one. I took his advice and majored in journalism at St. Bonaventure University, where I learned the art of writing, researching, and reporting. After graduating, I worked in New York City at CBS News and The Conde Nast Publications. Later, I married my childhood sweetheart, Scott, and our first daughter was born. When she was two we moved from New York to Cincinnati, Ohio, where we lived for nine years.

I now live in Chatham, New Jersey, with my husband and five children: Erin, Brian, Andrew, Katie, and Patrick. While I stayed home to raise my children I worked as a freelance writer, copyeditor and proofreader. It wasn’t until my youngest son was born and I found myself in a quiet house with a napping baby that I began to think about writing for children. I started to experiment, first with non-fiction, then with poetry. I took an adult education class and joined a children’s writing critique group. I read everything there was to know about writing for children. Soon ideas for books were flying out of my head onto paper!

I was thrilled when I sold my first book, Good Night Engines (Clarion) in the fall of 2000.  Since then I have sold three more books, Ohio Thunder (Clarion 2006), Wake Up Engines (Clarion 2007) and Bug Patrol (Clarion, Spring 2010).

Some days are busier than others but I always try to write every day, wherever I am and whatever I am doing. I can be driving my sons to hockey practice, gardening, or stirring a pot of soup and still be "working" on my next project!

I love writing for children. And yes, I still love reading, especially to my children. There is nothing sweeter than curling up next to a sleepy child with a good book! I hope you experience some of this same joy when you read my books!