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I'm a Northern California children's author, freelance writer, and playwright. My first picture book, "Otto's Rainy Day", a Kids' Pick of the Lists selection, was published by Charlesbridge Publishing in 2000; a picture book biography, "Cixi, The Dragon Empress", about the last empress of China, was released by Goosebottom Books in October 2011, followed by "Sacajawea of the Shoshone", the amazing story of the Native American teenager who traveled the west with Lewis and Clark, in October 2012. "Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas", a multicultural re-telling of the Goldilocks and the Three Bears story, was published by Charlesbridge Publishing in Jan. 2014. It was a Junior Library Guild and Scholastic Book Club selection. "The Rock Maiden", another re-envisioned folk tale was released by Wisdom Tales Press in March 2017.

I have also published non-fiction articles in the children's magazines, Highlights for Children, Appleseeds, Faces, and Muse, and for adults in local and regional publications such as Mendocino Arts, Vibrant Life, and UnchARTed magazines. My ten-minute plays have been produced and performed in venues around Northern California--Ukiah, Santa Rosa, Guerneville--as well as in Los Angeles, and internationally, in Sydney and Brisbane, Australia; Auckland, New Zealand; and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

I was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and grew up in Singapore and Hong Kong. I came to California in 1979 to attend Dominican College (now University) where I graduated with a B.A. in English Literature with a Writing Emphasis and a M.S. in Counseling Psychology. As a Social Worker, I worked primarily with emotionally disadvantaged children in group home and foster home settings, and with Child Protective Services. Currently, I work part time at the Mendocino County Office of Education, but work on my writing every chance I get.

I have written stories since I was 11 years old, and even though I'm interested in writing in a wide-range of genres and topics from picture books to plays, from travel and food writing to profiles, my heart has always been in writing for children.