After reading the traditional tale of Robin Hood, the hero who stole from the rich to give to the poor, the reader is invited to turn the book upside down and read an updated version told from the point of view of the Sheriff of Nottingham.
I spent my twenties teaching and writing novels that weren't published. As I approached thirty, my first novel The Schoolteachers was published and promptly faded from view.
That led me to give up writing, I thought, and go for my doctorate in education at the University of Pennsylvania. I did complete the doctorate and along the way hooked up with a major professor who brought me along in the writing of his new reading series. The Bookshops--60 paperback books for the primary grades--was my first success (big time!) and led to a long career writing readers and texts for the school market. I loved my career as a Director of Reading/Language Arts for the public schools of Greensboro, NC and Dallas, TX, and later Vice President of Education for World Book Encyclopedia. But my greatest joy--aside from my three children--came from the many children's books I authored.
Today, I am largely retired and am back once again, just where I started,writing novels. My newest novel Teacher Accused: When Homophobia Explodes in a Texas Town has just been published! And I feel all the excitement I used to feel way back when.
