I grew up in Bethesda, Maryland, with my parents, sister Susan, and Mr. Chips, our mischievous and adorable wired-hair terrier. As a little girl, I remember my mom and dad reading picture books to me nightly. I loved certain books so much that I ended up reciting them back to my parents as they turned the pages. Most of these are still perennial favorites, such as Babar, Curious George, The Three Little Pigs, and Madeline. I had a special connection to Madeline: like her, I had my appendix removed when I was small; and like her, I also enjoyed showing off my scar to anyone who would look. Unlike Madeline, I couldn't find the outline of a rabbit on the ceiling over my bed, even though I tried frequently.

I made my first picture books when I was in elementary school. A friend and I spent afternoons writing and illustrating our own newspapers and stories. She did the writing and I did the pictures. I also liked to illustrate stories and poems I wrote myself - a practice I later applied to homework assignments. I wonder what my college professors thought when they received a few of my term papers complete with illustrated frontispieces!

I went to college at the University of Chicago, where I studied literature, history, and art. During a post-graduate year in Paris, I took art classes at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and sketched street scenes and animals at the Paris zoo. Later, I began an MFA program in painting but soon decided to pursue a slightly more reliable career in museum work. I received a master's degree in art history at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, England, and have since worked for over twenty years as an art museum curator and educator. During these years I continued to make art, including picture books to give as gifts to nephews and friends.

I have lived in many cities, including New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, Houston, and Rome. Since 2003, I am again living in New York, this time with my teenage son, Gabriel, and a shaggy poodle named Rocky. Kangodile is my first published children's book.