Biography
I was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where I lived in a brick row house on a narrow street in West Oak Lane with my mother and father. My brother was born when I was two and a half years old. He was a bratty younger brother, I was a bossy older sister. When I was nine years old my father gave me a Kodak Brownie camera, and I took pictures of family and friends. This was the beginning of my lifelong interest in photography and images. When I was in sixth grade I made a book on colorful construction paper about the daily lives of the ancient Egyptians.
I drew pictures with crayons and wrote text for each image. Combining words and illustrations together to become a book was very exciting.
The summer between the sixth and seventh grade my father died and I was left with a big hole in my heart. This is one of the reasons I write about loss and what you can do with loss, even for young children. My book, DADDIES is about my memories of him and all the fun things we did together. DADDIES is a celebration of fatherhood. When baby looses bunny in my new book, BUNNY AND ME, baby searches until bunny is found.
When I was a child I enjoyed school and reading books, I took dancing lessons, piano lessons and dramatic lessons. It was especially fun when I was in recitals and plays. My brother and I became good friends.
I graduated from The University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Elementary Education, taught school, married, and raised two daughters who are now married and each have two children of their own.
This book, BUNNY AND ME is especially meaningful to me because it is a family project. The models for the baby are my two granddaughters, Ariel and Frances. The baby's outfit was knitted by their mother, Erica. My original black and white photographs were colored on the computer by my daughter, Joanie. It is exciting to have my daughters and granddaughters included in the process of making this book.
I studied writing and photography with many wonderful, famous, and giving teachers. Everyday I learn new things about making images and using words. Now I am in a workshop for writers where we write and read our stories to each other every week. One of the most important things I learned is that writers write and then rewrite over and over, and photographers take a hundred pictures to get one good one.
When I am not writing and taking photographs I like to dance, go to exercise class, and cross-country ski. In summer, I like to hike and ride a boogie board on the waves in the ocean. But, I'll tell you a secret. The most fun I have is playing with my grandchildren.
I live in Philadelphia, Pa. with my husband Bert who is physician and likes to tell jokes.