Who I am

Guess how dull my childhood was. Imagine a time when TV flickered only three hours a day – black and white, on a screen slightly larger than your iPad. There were no computers or video games or cell phones, so what’s a kid without brothers and sisters to do? Well, every Saturday I walked twelve blocks to the public library and checked out a stack of books.

Then, dodging motorcycles and blaring horns, I read and finished a book before I got home. Saturday afternoons I went to the movies, which cost 20¢, plus a nickel for a Licorice Twist. All the while I made up stories.

Eventually I grew up and went to the University of California, where I met my future husband the first day of my freshman year. It took him five years to get around to marrying me while he ambled through graduate school and became a Ph.D. psychologist.

My work as a librarian introduced me to great books for kids, since I didn’t read many children’s books when I was a young girl. We started having our own kids—three sons in under four years.

David , and his wife, Devora, are both high school teachers in Seattle, and they share two children, Jocelyn and Andy. Our second son, Kenn, is also on the cover of one of my books. He reminds us all the time that it’s a curse being a middle child. He’s a software quality assurance guy who has a zillion facts about movies and sports packed into his head. Julie, his ever-patient wife, has carved time out of her busy HR career to be a full-time mom to Jacob and Evan. Son number three, Jeff, is a dining critic, freelance writer, and author of a children’s book, Penelope March is Melting. Jeff’s wife Sarah, is a high-energy school administrator. Their kids are Hannah, Max, and Avi, who thrive on the joyful chaos of urban Chicago.

These 14 people are the ones I love most, the ones who give me deep roots to ground me and also the freedom to soar.