I grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. When I was a kid, my favorite thing was performing in plays at the Children’s Theatre Company in town. The dancing and music, costumes and lights brought my favorite stories -- Pippi Longstocking, Alice in Wonderland, the Velveteen Rabbit -- to life in a way that felt like some sort of magic trick. It was like stepping into the pages of the books I had read at bedtime and meeting all the funny characters. I think that in part, it was this daily contact with storytelling that made me want to eventually create my own stories.

I attended public school in Minneapolis through high school, then went off to Sarah Lawrence College in New York to study theater, dance and writing. I enjoyed the short stories and novels I read in my writing classes, but between assignments I would go back to the books I loved best as a kid: Harriet the Spy, Mary Poppins, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, the Ramona Quimby series. By the time I graduated from college, I knew I wanted to write for children in the spirit of these special books.

I started writing Elvis & Olive with a desire to tell a good story, but no idea if I could do it, and no clue what it would be about. So I kept the writing a secret from everyone. And soon, the whole story was about secrets. 

At this very minute, I am probably in my house in St. Paul, Minnesota drinking too much tea, listening to my dog snore in the bed next to my desk, and writing something. Something I hope will be good.

Want to know more about me? Check out my journal, updated monthly.