As a child, I was always moving, always the new girl. At first, I was extremely shy. I had to learn how to say hello and make new friends. Now, I am always the first to reach out to anyone new and welcome them.

 

I also love to travel and meet people who are different from me. I love learning about them. As a result, I wrote a series of picture book manuscripts about Katya Ventura who travels the world by touching a page on a magical atlas and meets other kids from various cultures indigenous to that area. 

 

She befriends them and helps them solve problems. They help her too! Until these books are published, read Katya’s travel blog to find out more about the different areas she visits and the people who live there.

 

Another fun fact about me is that I have always had an extremely sensitive nose and have discovered fires before anyone knew about them on two separate occasions. Inspired by these real experiences and determined to show little people can do big things, I wrote a picture book called Naomi’s Nose. Look for when it’s published to find out what happens to Naomi and her nose.

 

 

Finally, learning how to negotiate is an important life skill and I like to think I mastered it at a young age by practicing on my parents. Looking back, I wonder if sometimes I think that I outsmarted them when they might have outsmarted me too. With this in mind, I have written the picture book Eric Wants a Pet. When it is published, see the hilarious way Eric tries to convince his parents to get a dog.