I'm known as "the anti-bullying novelist," but I didn't intend to write anti-bullying books. I just started by writing what I hoped would be compelling stories. However, CAMP takes place in a girls sleepaway camp, and DANNY'S MOM is set in a high school. So showing what really goes on behind the closed gates and doors of our camps and schools, it was impossible for me not to write about bullying. As a camp counselor, a teacher, and a school district program director, I've seen bullies turn something as simple as waiting for a school bus -- or a camp bus -- into a nightmare. I know that kids can be just plain mean, and that too often adults turn their backs on the victims and ignore the bullies. And we all know that adults can be bullies too. And we know that bullying can be fatal. My novels appeal to teens and to adults -- from ages 13 to 93! -- and they have literally given me a bully pulpit, a platform from which we can keep the bullying conversation going in concert with professionals in our communities. I truly hope these discussions will make our camps and schools safer. I hope, too, that you'll find CAMP and DANNY'S MOM to be really good reads!

Community Upstander Award presented by Holocaust Memorial & Tolerance Center
First place winner, Forward Literature Award
Book of the Month, Holocaust Memorial & Tolerance Center
Top Ten YA Fiction
Listed in "Publishers Weekly Bullying Resources: A Selected Listing"
Recommended on "Books in the Middle"
Recommended on "Dig Into Reading"
Recommended by Howell Carnegie District Library
Recommended on "Hot Reads"
Recommended on "Summer Fun Reading"
Listed on Arkansas Teen Book Awards Reading List
Recommended in "Start Off Camp With A Book"
On "Top 10 Picks for Peters Township Teens"
Awarded "A Perfect Ten!" by VOYA, Voice of Youth Advocates
Hampshire Life Short Fiction prize winner