I spent much of my childhood making up plays and acting in a junior theater group in Ann Arbor, where I grew up. I was one of the young kids cast in a college production where Peter Pan wore a harness so he could be hoisted into the air on an invisible wire and sing, “I’m Flying.” Yes, I believe in magic.
In high school, I kept acting and writing, and I won first place in a citywide essay contest. During college, I was in a theater group called The Triangle Show, and I became the student representative for the English department. I spent many hours reading, writing, and thinking about the power of words. After college I became a writer, editor, and TV producer. I’ve always had a love for learning and teaching, and I have a graduate degree in Education.
My favorite jobs have included: editor and writer for Houghton Mifflin and Addison Wesley; communications director for a Boston nonprofit; managing editor of a New York magazine for kids; and senior producer for PBS.
Michigan is where I grew up, Maine is my spiritual home, and Massachusetts is where I live. My husband George and I have three kids who love the woods and music as much as we do. Our home is in Concord, MA near the historic Old North Bridge and I love living in the town where Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women.
More info, quotes, and favorites:
The first book that made me cry was Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. I remember burying myself in a corner of the couch when Charlotte died, and feeling sad but filled with love at the same time. I am forever grateful to E.B. White for what he revealed to me and so many children about the circle of life.
Well-loved children’s books include Benito’s Dream Bottle by Naomi Shihab Nye, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig, Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery, A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park, and The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman.
A few favorite novels are My Antonia by Willa Cather, Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset, The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx, Adam Bede by George Eliot, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, and any book by Jane Austen.
“Let the light of late afternoon
Shine through chinks in the barn, moving
Up the bales as the sun moves down.”
From Let Evening Come by Jane Kenyon
“Isn’t it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive – it’s such an interesting world. It wouldn’t be half so interesting if we knew everything, would it? There’d be no scope for imagination then, would there?”
From Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
“We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure, but not delight. We must have the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of this world.”
From A Brief for the Defense by Jack Gilbert