Although I’m an Indiana girl by birth, I spent most of my childhood in western Pennsylvania. My little hometown had one stoplight and one blinker light. Amish buggies clip-clopped by our house morning and evening.
As a quiet kid who loved stories, I spent a lot of time reading. When my dad was in graduate school in Muncie, Indiana, my three siblings and I shared a tiny bedroom in a small apartment. At night, my dad would lie on the floor with his head on a big shaggy stuffed dog and tell us stories about two hippopotamuses named Daisy and Lullabelle. One of my fondest memories of Indiana is checking out books from the bookmobile that pulled up in front of our apartment complex once a week.
When we moved to Pennsylvania, we lived in a bigger house with more bedrooms. So my mom, who was a teacher and an expert at reading aloud, sat in the hallway between the room I shared with my sister and the room my brothers shared and read to us at bedtime. We fell asleep listening to Rabbit Hill, Charlotte’s Web, and all the Beverly Cleary books.
When I was in fourth grade, I got my first pair of glasses. For the next six years, I failed every eye test I took. My ophthalmologist told my parents I should stop reading so much. Luckily, they didn’t listen; they just kept getting me new glasses.
So I happily read my way through elementary school, junior high, and high school. When it was time for college. I wanted to major in English, but I didn’t think I wanted to be a teacher like my parents. So I majored in Theatre. I married my college sweetheart before my senior year. We moved to New Hampshire after I graduated. I sold furniture and clothing, waited tables, and worked at an electric company before deciding I wanted a career, not just a series of job. We left New Hampshire and went back to school in my husband’s hometown in western New York.
After I completed my master’s degree, the English Department invited me to stay on as a part-time adjunct. I started out teaching freshman composition. A few years and three kids later, I settled into what became a perfect niche for me: Teaching literature, poetry, and writing classes to future elementary school teachers. During my years at SUNY Fredonia, I served as the Director of English Composition and the Coordinator of the English Concentration. In 2019, I received the State University of New York’s Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. It turns out spending all those years teaching writing and middle grade novels was the perfect preparation for writing my own book, and that brings me to today.
My debut novel, published by Holiday House, was released in January of 2024. Light and Air, is a middle grade historical novel set in 1935. Much of the book takes place in a tuberculosis sanatorium, inspired by the ruins of the J.N. Adam Memorial Hospital in Perrysburg, New York, not far from where I live with my husband, Steve, a retired teacher. We have six wonderful kids and kids-in-law and four adorable grandsons.
I’m now hard at work on my second book. Another middle grade historical novel. More on that very soon!