After an early career in advertising, I left the corporate world to focus on being a full time parent and, in the process, fell in love anew with the world of children’s literature.
I’ve been happily writing in this space ever since.
About Me:
I grew up in a big city but I love a good hike in the woods
I can tell a Sycamore apart from a Maple tree and can probably identify most trees in my neighborhood
I am fluent in Russian
I have three children
One of my favorite parts of being a parent is reading with my kids
I have an identical twin sister, but no, we’ve never switched places or have ESP, though we probably could tell what the other is thinking in most situations
As a child I struggled with reading until a family friend gave me three books that changed my life and started me on a path to loving books—Wizard of Oz, James and the Giant Peach, and Charlotte’s Web
When I was little I used to pretend to run a library. I still love that idea
Being around books fills me with a sense of hope and possibility
My other favorite part of being a parent is being able to hang out at the children’s section of the library with my kids. It’s kind of my happy place
Books I Love:
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller
Front Desk by Kelly Yang
The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani
Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo
A Wolf Called Wander by Rosanne Parry
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Circe by Madeline Miller
Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
My Fiction:
Spaced Apart
Middle Grade Speculative, 69,000 Words
What if your grandparents were aliens from outer space? 11-year-old twins Jacob and Sylvia grew up listening to their grandfather’s stories about imaginary twin planets where berries taste like chocolate, hills have feelings, and travel happens with a tap of a map. Jacob, who’s a dreamer, used to hope these places were real, even as Sylvia, who likes to question things, had her doubts.
After their grandfather passes away, however, the stories stop and Jacob begins to worry that Sylvia was right all along: the planets were just something their grandfather had made up. But when the twins find an unusual pocket watch in their grandfather's attic--one that doesn't seem to be a watch at all--they’re transported to the twin worlds from Grandpa’s stories and discover that the planets are not only real but need their help.
The planets are headed for a collision, and the twins hold the key to stopping it. But when the siblings are separated, Jacob will have to find a way to stand on his own, apart even from Sylvia, who he relies on more than he cares to admit, if he is to save her and their grandparents’ home worlds from destruction.