A child of the Washington DC burbs, Jane grew up with two brothers and three sisters, a mom and a dad, a beagle named Charlie and a parakeet named Pudgie. Summers were spent submerged in the local swimming pool, and winter days waned in front of TV reruns of Laugh-In and The Twilight Zone. Despite many hardships (no computers, cell phones, DVDs or microwave popcorn, to name just a few) she reached adulthood in the late 1970s. By 1990 she had three daughters, to whom she’d read aloud the entire collection of children’s books at the local public library. That’s when she started writing.
For almost twenty years, Jane's writing has been inspired by her three daughters. Their lively personalities regularly surface in her fiction. Meghan, her oldest daughter, held the spotlight in her first published short stories in HOPSCOTCH MAGAZINE. Her youngest, Lucy, was strikingly similar to the central character of her first published book, LUCY'S (COMPLETELY COOL AND TOTALLY TRUE) E-JOURNAL. And though her "middlest" daughter, Emma, may not be just like Brady, her adventures and friends sparked FOUR THINGS MY GEEKY-JOCK -OF-A-BEST-FRIEND MUST DO IN EUROPE, as well as the spin-off novel, MY BEST FRIEND, THE ATLANTIC OCEAN, AND OTHER GREAT BODIES STANDING BETWEEN ME AND MY LIFE WITH GIULIO.
Since the three girls have set off on their own real-life adventures, Jane looks to her cute husband, Jon, for amusement, and has devoted time to teaching both language arts and science. Her classroom, filled with reptiles and a variety of arthropods, inspired her 2006 non-fiction book, EXTREME PETS!
(Yay! A short title!)
She loves to hike in the Blue Ridge Mountains, watch Washington Nationals baseball, and visit Ireland--the setting of her latest (hopefully greatest) writing endeavor.
Emma on her RISD Roman holiday, in front of the Bernini "turtle fountain."
Lucy and Iris--separated by the Atlantic...sometimes.
On a New Jersey river: Emma battling spiders as Meghan lounges.
There's no place like foam.
(Lucy at Foam Henge, Natural Bridge, VA.)
Kind of an old pic...which one is Jane?
Jane & Jon at (on, really) the new house in the Shenandoah Valley.
Jane & her #1 EXTREME PET, Longfellow.
(Thanks for the picture, Iris!)
Thank you to Alexandria VA photographer Rita Abraham for author photo.
