Awards, Press & Interests

Every Creature Eats: A Witch Fest

A witch encourages all creatures to eat treats at her Halloween Fest. They appear disgusting to her guests until they realize they are actually yummy goodies. Recipes are included at the end for children to hold their own Witch Fest.

Her Eyes Were On the Stars: Nancy Grace Roman "Mother of Hubble" Space Telescope

As a child, Nancy Grace Roman, moved from home to home. The only constant? The nighttime sky. She loved the stars and knew from a young age that she wanted to become an astronomer. But could she, during a time when many women weren’t even allowed into colleges? Nancy Grace found a way to overcome each barrier placed before her. Her persistence paid off when she was named the first female executive as Chief of Astronomy at the newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA in 1959. It was here she faced her biggest challenge to date. Astronomers across the country wanted a telescope that would orbit in space above the Earth’s atmosphere allowing for the clearest view of the stars a telescope had ever seen. The problem? At this early stage of the United States space program, engineers hadn’t even successfully launched a rocket. How would Nancy Grace ever get a telescope into space? HER EYES WERE ON THE STARS introduces readers to a female scientist in the field of astronomy who will be forever affectionately known as “Mother of Hubble.”

Octopus Capers

*This manuscript won the 2014 SCBWI Karen & Philip Cushman Late Bloomer Award for a work in progress. Three feature real life stories written in the format of “whodunits” in which octopuses are the culprits. The investigations, resolutions, and science follow each mystery, revealing the who, what, and why of each crime. Fun facts, sidebars, and questions for children to consider round out the mysteries. In “The Case of the Disappearing Sharks,” aquarium workers in Seattle notice that sharks are suddenly and inexplicably missing from their tank. A stakeout eventually reveals that a new tank member, a Giant Pacific octopus, drowned the sharks at night and ate them, leaving little evidence of its crime. Through this mystery, readers will learn about octopus’ feeding habits. In “The Case of the Electrical System Blowout,” a stakeout becomes necessary after the electrical system at the Sea Star Aquarium in Coburg, Germany repeatedly shorts out. The investigation reveals a young octopus named Otto caused the blackouts by climbing the walls of his tank, precariously balancing on the edge, and using his syphon to squirt water at an overhead light. Through this mystery, readers will examine octopus intelligence. Other mysteries range from “The Secret of the Escape Artist,” exploring why octopuses leave their tanks, to “The Mystery of Camouflage,” looking at an octopus’s ability to camouflage in shape and color, to “The Mystery of the Running Coconut,” discovering tool use by octopuses. The book fits into the Common Core Curriculum areas of Life Science, including ‘Interactions between Habitats,’ ‘Behavior, Growth, and Changes,’ and ‘Interactions within Ecosystems.’

The Changeling

King Geoffrey is counting on his eighth, and according to prophesy, final child, being a boy and heir for the kingdom. When an eighth girl is born, Eglantine makes a changeling deal with Fairy Queen Oona. Oona will take the princess baby for her prized flower baby garden and in return provide a male child to the desperate Queen. Villagers Tom and Maeve are delighted with their newborn Malachy, but cautious. Superstition holds that fairies can steal their precious baby up until he is blessed. With the clergyman stuck up north in a village quarantined with the plague, they are unable to get the necessary protection. Fairy Queen Oona snatches baby Malachy and leaves wagwit Fin in his cradle. Only the loyal house cat Smokey witnesses the exchange of babies and knows the truth. He tries in vain to expose the phony baby, but Maeve is blinded by a mother’s love. When the palace bells ring, the King believes he has an heir at last. A vengeful fairy Carabosse is perplexed when she learns of the boy. She herself ensured this would never happen after Geoffrey refused her offer of marriage and a magical kingdom. She steals the changeling baby and puts him at the bottom of Lake Burion where he will never be able to rule. Fairy Queen Oona moves to place a protective bubble around the baby that will hold until the upcoming equinox, but can do no more. King Geoffrey is so angered to learn the scorned fairy has taken his “heir”, the escalating quarrel between the pair leaves the palace servants invisible except for their gloves, and the nobles as cats. Fortunately, they can still speak. Unfortunately, the King has allergies. Smokey meets Queen Eglantine’s sister, Camellia, now a beautiful white cat, in the palace gardens where they together decide to help each other somehow get their rightful babies back. In the process, the pair become inseparable. King Geoffrey offers the hand of eldest daughter Princess Rose in marriage to anyone able to break the enchantments and retrieve his “heir” from the lake. Rose and her sisters, who are aware of the baby switch, however, are determined to find the corrective to get their newborn sister Fleur back. As the moon approaches equinox, (1) Smokey and Camellia find a way to tell Maeve and Tom that the wagwit is not their beloved Malachy, and how to rid him from the house, (2) the princesses prepare a corrective to change baby Fleur back, (3) the Court Magician restores the noble cats to their previous state, although most elect to remain feline, including Camellia, (4) King Geoffrey breaks tradition and chooses Rose to become his heir.