I was born in Minneapolis on October 26th. I grew up in New Brighton, Minnesota, where I spent way too much time watching TV (which is strange because I never watch television now).
When I was not watching reruns of “Gilligan’s Island” or “The Brady Bunch,” I enjoyed reading, drawing, acting out make-believe stories with my neighbor LuAnn, and annoying my older sister Debbie.
Some of my favorite gifts as a kid included a tank of helium (I wanted to become a balloon man), Spirograph, and packs of brightly colored construction paper. I could spend hours making things out of construction paper. My childhood hero was Charles Schulz, creator of the Peanuts comic strip, and if I could not become a balloon man, I wanted to become a cartoonist.
Books in order of publications:
A Christmas Guest – 1988
The Evening King – 1993
Picture That! Christmas Puzzles – 2002
Mighty Big Book of Travel Mysteries – 2002
The Best Pet of All – 2004
The End – 2006
1+1=5 and Other Unlikely Additions – 2010
Minnesota’s Hidden Alphabet – 2010
The Haunted Hamburger and Other Ghostly Stories – 2011
It’s a Tiger! – 2012
Moo! – 2013
Arlo’s ARTrageous Adventure!: 50 Flaps to Flip – 2013
How Martha Saved Her Parents From Green Beans – 2013
Monster Son – 2016
This Is NOT a Cat! – 2016
Isle of You – 2018
Planet of the Penguins – 2019
I Was an Outer-Space Chicken – 2019
See the Cat: Three Stories About a Dog – 2020
How to Apologize – 2021
See the Dog: Three Stories about a Cat – 2021
Oak Lawn Library Friends 