About the Author

I’ve loved books since my grandma introduced me to Peter Rabbit and his wonderfully naughty adventures. She also gave me a tiny book of impressionist paintings with a young girl on the cover who had brown hair just like mine. I didn’t know until many years later that the painting was by Renoir, and that the title was “A Girl with a Watering Can.” I just knew that I liked the little girl, and that the small size of the book made it fit perfectly into my three year old hands.

My mom bought me plenty of books too - many by a man named Dr. Seuss. I couldn’t get enough of his zany characters, who found trouble wherever they looked. Maurice Sendak had a place in my heart also, with Max and his mischievous ways in Where the Wild Things Are. Hmmm. Is there a pattern here?

Mom even used picture books to persuade me to give up my favorite blanket. She bought me Arthur Miller’s book, Jane’s Blanket, and convinced me that she and my sister, brother, and father would each love to have a piece of my chewed on, drooled on, rarely washed pink blankie. In a gesture of great kindness, I let her cut it up for all to share, leaving me one tiny square that was soon lost. But by then I had moved on to more important things, such as solving Nancy Drew mysteries. To this day, I love a good mystery.

Books have been a huge part of my life since I can remember, and I’m grateful that now I get to create books that hopefully will become a part of some young person’s life. Happy reading!

Diane is the author of Zoom!, I Can Do It Myself!, Teacher’s Little Helper (Spring 2012), Two Hands to Hold You (Spring 2012), as well as the illustrator of A Home for Salty.