My touchstones have always been books. Like clear-eyed family members, different books have anticipated my needs and questions, mirrored my problems, and provided help or inspiration. I grew up on an inner-city block made famous in Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. As a high school English teacher, I recognized many funny or painful experiences captured in the pages of Bel Kaufman's Up the Down Staircase. Later, the mayhem—if not the murders—of Amanda Cross' mystery novels, with their university settings, seemed familiar as I completed graduate degrees at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and became a college professor. What Color is Your Parachute? guided my next career move—into the business world, where I worked as a corporate trainer and instructional designer. For a quarter-century, I lived with my husband and son in Mankato, Minnesota, on the “Big Hill” of Maude Hart Lovelace's beloved Betsy-Tacy series for young readers. Those works and my encounters with Lovelace fans on their pilgrimage to our neighborhood took on new meaning as I began to write myself. Now, after a recent move to Bloomington, Minnesota, I am ready for another new chapter in my life! Which books shall I read...what new work may they inspire? Since 1994, I have written over 100 nonfiction articles, activities and books for children and young adults. In 2000, my piece about puzzles in Cricket magazine, “No Cross Words Allowed,” won the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Merit Award for the year's best nonfiction article. In 2004, my article about forensic science in Odyssey magazine, “'Facing' Jack the Ripper: Forensics Then and Now,” was awarded a letter of merit in SCBWI's annual competition. Sarah Winnemucca: Scout, Activist, and Teacher, my biography of that Northern Paiute leader, was honored by the Western Writers of American as a finalist in the 2007 Spur Award competition for juvenile nonfiction. Sarah Winnemucca also represented the state of Nevada at the 2006 National Book Festival in Washington, D. C. This biography was named one of 2006's best books for children by the Bank Street College of Education. I have written science picture books and chapter books on holidays, money, hospitals, Native American tribes, California ranchos, the Vietnam War era, world religions, and science. My longer works for older readers include a book about the mystery of Jack the Ripper and biographies of popular author Amy Tan and scientific genius Sir Isaac Newton. I have also written the stories of the atomic bomb and pharmaceuticals and delved into the culture of comics. In 2011, Graphic Content! The Culture of Comic Books was named a "Book of Note" for young adults by the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association. I enjoy writing so much that I completed a series of books to help young people write their own stories and books. In 2008, this ongoing series won a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers. In 2009, the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association named Write Your Own Graphic Novel a 2008 Young Adult Top 40 Nonfiction Title. My motto is “Plan ahead, but also live ‘write now’.”