Then and Now!

Hey, I was once a kid! And a dorky one at that! See?

I was always a creative, oddball child who loved to draw and write. Other than climbing trees, it's what I did best.

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I have twenty-one books to my credit including being the illustrator of the successful PUNCTUATION TAKES A VACATION. Some of my other titles include BASIL’S BIRDS, THELONIUS TURKEY LIVES!, BEAR’S BIG BREAKFAST, and   BENNY SHARK GOES TO FRIEND SCHOOL.

My books have been published by New York’s finest: HarperCollins, Farrar Straus Giroux, Random House, Holiday House, Disney and Amazon/Two Lions.

I live outside Austin, Texas, and I work in a studio in my backyard. Here’s a picture of it.

I have a husband, two sons and one granddaughter. She’s the cutest child in the universe.

I have a cat named Rumper. Why, you may ask, would you name a cat Rumper? Because she gets down low in the front and sticks her rear end high in the air for a rigorous rub. She demands it!

I’m originally from Indiana. That’s a small state full of corn and basketball hoops. When I was a kid, I was a really good basketball player with a nice jump shot. I wanted to be a professional basketball player. But I guess being an author is pretty good, too.

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I was in the U.S. Army for two years. Yep, left-right-left-right...I wrote and drew stuff for the newspaper at Fort Polk, Louisiana. I married an officer.

When I was about fifty, my son made me go to trapeze school.

It was one of the most frightening things I've ever done!

Advice for kids:

NEVER GIVE UP! NEVER!  I’m not a big believer in “talent.” I think that hard work creates the results many call “talent.”