Hello!

I’m a freelance writer and editor who grew up on a farm in Maryland, where I spent my time reading, wandering in the woods, and trying to build tiny houses with leak-proof roofs. I’ve been writing for children for many years, always trying to create stories that are as memorable and resonant as my favorites were to me. My work has been published in newspapers, magazines, textbooks, reading programs, and poetry anthologies. I’ve won some awards for my poetry, and been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. I live, write, and make pies in Central Massachusetts.

Contact

Photograph by Michael Singh

Some of My Books

Some of My Favorite Books by Other Writers

The Wednesday Wars, Gary D. Schmidt
The Voyage of the Sparrowhawk, Natasha Farrant
Long Way Down, Jason Reynolds
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E.L. Konigsburg
Raymie Nightingale, Kate DiCamillo
Okay for Now, Gary D. Schmidt
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
The Misfits, James Howe
Al Capone Does My Shirts, Gennifer Choldenko
The Fire-Eaters, David Almond
Love That Dog, Sharon Creech

Miscellany

My favorite kind of pie is peach. No, strawberry rhubarb. Or maybe wild blueberry, if there's lemon in it.
I love to ice skate. On ponds most of all.
If I could go back in time, I'd visit New England in the 1700s, so I could watch all those stone walls being built.
Picking wild blueberries is one of my favorite pastimes.
I've had lots of literary pets: Snufkin, Pippin, Oliver, Carbonel, Serafina Pekkala, and Klinker, among others.
I used to make my own bows and arrows, but not because I wanted to do anything any harm.
The farm I grew up on was a vineyard.
I am unnerved by centipedes, especially in the sink.
I have been to China, where they treat poets like rock stars (which is just the way they should be treated).
There's no place like home.