Things I do:
I'm a teacher-writer-mommy-hiker-biker-reader-runner living in Pennsylvania, where I write picture books and play in the dirt. That's me on the end! My husband Gil and I compete in mud runs together. He's the one in the middle, and this is my all-time favorite picture of us.
Things I've done:
I was born in Lincoln, Maine, but moved away when I was still a pudgy, diaper-wearing infant. Ultimately I grew up in a southern New Jersey housing development, nestled between corn fields, woods, and a lake – a real recipe for childhood fun, exploration, and mosquito bites! But every itchy lump was worth the chance to catch lightning bugs or take long bike rides with friends.
I wrote my first stories in that South Jersey home, including a tall tale for my wonderful gifted & talented teacher, Mrs. Hargus. Upon "publication" of our stories, my class was featured in the Vineland Times Journal. And look! I made the front page! I'm the one holding the pencil.
Flute, piano, cheerleading, tennis, golf, and reading were some of the other activities I enjoyed.
If I could go back in time . . .
After graduating from the green-and-gold Arthur P. Schalick High School in 1990, I went on to receive a degree from the College of New Jersey and became a third-grade teacher at the Lanes Mill Elementary School in Brick, New Jersey. To this day I think third-graders are GREAT! If I could go back in time, I'd be an imaginative, live-in-the-moment, full-of-possibility third-grader all over again.
Since then I've taught preschool, kindergarten, and fitness classes at the gym. I now live in the Pocono Mountains with my husband and two children, plus one very naughty bunny . . . and I'll read books to anyone who will listen!
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