I was born in East York in 1948, the daughter of a Canadian soldier and his Dutch war bride. I graduated from the University of Toronto and became a teacher of lots of things, but mostly of art and English. I guess I have taught thousands of Toronto's great kids over the years and they have taught me too.As a child I read widely. I liked all sorts of fairy tales and animal stories by authors like the Brothers Grimm and Thornton Burgess. Maida's Little Shop by Inez Haynes Irwin was also a favourite. I have two children, Katie and Mackenzie, who gave me ideas for stories while they were growing up. Kate had a little plastic guy and I wrote a set of books about this toy from two different perspectives. Sometimes I get ideas from things I do. I like to build sand sculptures on beaches and I wrote a picture book once about finding a dragon shape in the sand. Other ideas seem to fall into my lap when I'm busy with something else. If I don't commit those to paper right away, they vanish. I'd like to do some art for one of my books. Sometimes when I can't sleep, I draw or paint a bit of a scene from one of my stories. Maybe I'll be brave enough to submit these to a publisher one day. I still live in Toronto, in a little bungalow with lots of big maples and a skunk or two. Mackenzie is here with his dog, and my daughter Katie often comes to visit.