Biography

I was an outdoor child—biking, swimming, endless nights of tag, hide-and-seek, and touch football. My book reading occurred at night, snuggled in bed, the light on past midnight, telling myself, “Just one more chapter.”

My newest book, When the Sky Turned to Dust, is a middle grade historical fiction published in June 2025.

My love of children’s books became deep and enduring in my early twenties, when I taught in a Cheltenham, PA, preschool (though teaching toddlers is more like being a Maypole, something for them to dash around and occasionally hold onto). That love continued to grow when I became a mother, and then a grandmother, reading aloud, and never minding repeating our favorites.

My nonfiction adult book, The Word Gobblers – a handbook for parents working with children struggling to read,waspublished by Square One Publishers, NY, in 2021. It is a natural extension of my work as a Certified Irlen Syndrome Screener, my children’s book writing, and my desire to see all children enjoy reading. I address the medically-based causes and traits of the condition and provide parents and teachers with the tools to identify the problem and relieve the physical and emotional symptoms.

I am also the author of six early reader picture books published in English and Spanish by Children’s Press, an imprint of Scholastic Books. Out the Door, Over-Under, I Love Cats, and Too Many Balloons are fiction. I Can Be a Police Officer and I Can Be a Computer Operator are nonfiction.

Presently I am working with artist Joan Gilbert on a picture book about a mischievous orange tabby cat named Jake, and a series of books about two bunny brothers.

I live in rural Joseph, Oregon, near the base of the beautiful Wallowa Mountains with my husband Stewart Jones, a snuggly, gray tabby named Mica, and a shy black cat named Jade.