I love old movies, tap dancing and opera. And OK, I love grammar and punctuation, too! I wrote ALFIE THE APOSTROPHE to let others in on the secret personalities of punctuation marks. Did you know that question marks love riddles and jokes? And exclamation points? Cheerleaders! You've probably already noticed that quotation marks are often filled with hot air. Albert Whitman & Co. was brave enough to publish a quirky story like ALFIE and, bless them, they are taking another chance on PENNY AND THE PUNCTUATION BEE, due out spring, 2008. I grew up in Bayside, Queens, and went to undergraduate school at Mississippi University for Women (yes, NYC to Mississippi was cause for a major culture shock!) and law school at the University of Santa Clara. I now live in northern VA with my husband, Rob; my daughter, Rose; my son, Peter, when he's home from NJIT's School of Architecture; and two dogs - a pug named Sniffles and Quincy, a cava-poo. I'm currently working on a mid-grade novel with slightly creepy overtones, which is why I am burying myself in "creepy-feeling" novels.