“Auntie Annie’s alligator..A…a…A” - a sentence in a book that would set me on a path of a love for children’s books starting in the early 1980’s. Along the way, there were other Dr. Seuss friends, Harold with his purple crayon, the Berenstain Bears, Adam Raccoon, Sam and the Firefly, a quiet cricket, and one very hungry caterpillar who would carve on to my heart, much like boy on the Giving Tree, a dream of one day writing my own children’s book. In 1996, I began as a student teacher for preschool and kindergarten, and after 15 years in Early Childhood Education, I stepped out of the classroom and fully into my role as Mom. Fresh in the throws of being a new mom, pulling from a decade and a half of story times and early literacy programs, I drafted the first version of Meet Thimblebee. It would be another 12 years before it would be finished. Today, I am finding a balance between being an independent author and being back in the classroom teaching full time in Northern California.