How many teachers do you know who are also motorcycle mamas? I’ve zig-zagged across the U.S. on the back of my husband’s motorcycle. It’s called riding “two-up” and is a great way to explore the country. You can read some of my published travel articles by clicking the ARTICLES button on any page.
Motorcycling is exhilarating, but it’s not my first love. My first love is reading. I remember the day I learned to read. There, in first grade, I sat stiffly in my reading group circle, on a hard wooden chair. (I didn't really have those glasses you see in the picture below.) I took a deep breath. I swallowed. My heartbeat echoed in my ears. The book trembled in my hands. But without stopping to sound out or ponder a word, I read one complete sentence of Dick and Jane!!
Learning to read launched me on a lifetime love of books. I soaked up new vocabulary. I enjoyed the wackity-smackity words of Dr. Seuss rolling across my tongue. And I marveled at the people who could string them together, page after page, to write an entire book. Then, when I was nine years old we got a home set of encyclopedias. (Thanks Mom and Dad!) You don’t know what encyclopedias were? Well, they were an A-Z set of reference books on about every subject, kind of like the Internet in book form. In the D Volume, color photos of every dog breed simply hypnotized me. I memorized them all. Today, I scour the Internet just like I did those encyclopedias.
Somewhere along the way, I decided I wanted to be the one to turn those words into sentences, into paragraphs, into pages, into books. I’ve written three fiction picture books, one nonfiction picture book, and one middle grade nonfiction. I did research on that middle grade book for two years and even traveled to England to search at maritime museums! I am currently working on drafts of two more nonfiction books.
I live with my husband and one cuddly cat in Iowa City, Iowa. (Sadly, we lost Tiara our orange tabby, in May 2017.) We have two smart and thoughtful grown children and two brilliant and funny grandchildren. Read on for lists of some of my all-time favorite books.