Jackie knew she wanted to write when a high school English teacher scolded her for writing a book report on a banned book. Jackie didn't know the book had been banned—or even that books COULD be banned. Now she does it all: fiction & nonfiction, 21 books & hundreds of magazine pieces, for kids, teens and adults. For 15 years she taught writing courses for the Institute of Children's Literature. Her early writing career began in Washington, DC, at the White House Correspondence Section—answering the President's mail. Jackie lives in the Finger Lakes wine region of upstate New York, deep in the woods where mushrooms form fairy circles.