I grew up in Plymouth, Michigan, with four brothers, two birds, one dog and lots and lots of books. I always felt - and still do feel - lucky to have so many brothers. I felt sorry for girls who only had one or two. When I write about boy characters, they all seem have a little bit of Chuck, Tom, Ed, or Jim in them.

Dogs were always an important part of our family. When I wrote the three books about the roommates, Beth and Mimi, I gave them a wonderful dog named Willie - who is a little bit like our old dog, Bootsie. I have just finished my very first I-Can Read story, Sparky and Tidbit,  and what is it about?  Dogs, of course.

Today I live in the green, rainy, watery beautiful state of Washington with my husband Steve, our naughty puppy Duffy (Meet Duffy!), and lots and lots of books.

I have lots of favorites, but here are my top ten. I love to write stories, read all kinds of books, travel to new places, eat M&Ms, travel to old places, write more stories, play with Duffy, read more books, go to non-scary movies, and share raspberries with Steve – and M&Ms, of course.

I began writing in the second grade and never stopped. I've written seventeen books and hope to write at least a dozen more. Sometimes I get letters from young readers asking if my stories are true. Did they really happen to me? The answer is both yes and no. No, the stories didn't happen just as I wrote them. But yes, each story - the heart of each story - is true.

However, the book I think about the most is always the one I'm currently working on. It was so much fun writing about Sparky and Tidbit’s doggy adventures that I’ve started a second story about them both. I’ll keep you posted on how it all turns out.