Books offer children chances to connect with ordinary folk who become heroes.

Making Connections

Gems

My writing grows around gems, the way an oyster grows a pearl, in layers. Gems are discoveries that change the way I see something in the world that I think will interest children. For my book about Peter, my gem was a visit to the Seven Springs or Tabgha by the Sea of Galilee. The rich source of algae in the springs attracted fish and fishermen like Peter in Biblical times. These springs drew Peter like a magnet.

Then I understood Peter’s great attraction to Jesus. When Jesus showed him a stronger magnet, the power of his teaching to draw crowds, Peter wanted to learn that more than to fish.

A different gem comes from an old Middle Eastern legend about the origin of timeless treasures. How did heroes find these treasures and how did these help them fulfill their dreams? That’s the stuff of another book.

Each story holds themes that loom big for children:

• having a friend who makes you risk more than you ever dared

• overcoming deep fear to face the impossible

• rebounding from failures, big and small.

Endnotes add tidbits about heroes and times and places in which they lived.

Travels

I’ve loved to travel since I was eight. In the summer, my grandmother or parents whisked us all over the map to show us how other people lived. Now, what I see, taste, and smell on trips bring my stories to life. When I visited the region around the Sea of Galilee, green fields of grass, wheat, even banana trees felt so different from rocky hillsides around Jerusalem and the steamy, dry Jordan River Valley. Yet Galilee was where Jesus spent most of his time preaching, not in the desert, but in a land where things grow. Abundance fills my Peter book. 

Journeys around the Mediterranean—from imperial ruins in Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and from Jerusalem’s stone streets to lush Moorish gardens creep into my current middle grade historical fantasy. It grows from a play a family group performed when my children were young. Check back for updates. 

Personal

I grew up near Philadelphia and ended up in Boston via Chicago. My four children unleashed my creative writing as I read them adventure stories and heard their reactions. While they’ve been my first reviewers, I’ve branched into school visits, Skypes with students, and talks at churches and on local TV.

With a masters in public health and BA in humanities, I drew from management consultants’ experience working in low-income countries to write global health success stories and leadership manuals. Ministries of health and clinic managers around the world have used these materials to strengthen health systems and save more lives.

Likewise, sharing exciting events with children is something I love to do. My cat, Pekoe, on the other hand, would rather sleep the day away or watch chipmunks at play. Her one exception is mealtime when she thinks nothing of prancing over the keyboard to tell me, “Enough is enough.”