I have loved both dogs and science since grade school when I taught my English bulldog Freckles to bark out the atomic weights of Hydrogen and Helium. While pursuing my bachelor’s in anthropology and minors in geology & education, I took every beginning science class offered, just for fun. I earned my masters in human factors engineering, plus a certificate in business.

A life-long educator, I’ve taught science and math in middle school, high school, and college. I’ve lived in 6 states and traveled 4 continents. I have won awards for my photography and climbed all the volcanoes in Washington State, where I grew up. Now, I live outside of Seattle, Washington, with my husband, Labradoodles Amber & Hawkeye, and 6 hens.

Originally, I wrote Veronica’s First Book of Elements for our 18-month-old granddaughter and illustrated it with my photos of our puppy Amber. Born to a family of writers, it wasn’t long before I made a real book out of it, which became Amber’s Atoms – The First 10 Elements of the Periodic Table.

My goal is to promote curiosity and scientific literacy for a generation of children with a series of Amber books, while making them attractive for the parents and other adults who may find themselves reading them multiple times to help their kids.