ELLEN SCHWARTZ

I was born in Washington, DC, but moved as a baby to New Jersey, where I grew up.

 

Do you love to read? Me, too. As a child I always had my nose in a book. I read EVERYTHING: Dr. Seuss, Nancy Drew, comic books, Charles Dickens. My two all-time favourite books were The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett and The Enormous Egg by Oliver Butterworth.

 

My favourite thing to do, though, was dancing. Here I am at about eight years old. Do you think I’m graceful enough to become a professional dancer? Neither do I!

 

In 1972, I moved with my husband, Bill, to Canada. We went “back to the land” and built our own cabin. We grew huge gardens and raised honeybees and chickens.

 

Now Bill and I live in Burnaby, British Columbia.  We have two grown daughters. Merri is a pastry chef (yum!) and Amy is a filmmaker and copy editor.

 

Before I became a writer, I was a school teacher. I taught children with learning disabilities and also primary grades. But something made me want to write, and I published my first book, Dusty, in 1983.

 

Since then, I’ve published 16 more books for kids, one for adults and dozens of magazine articles.

 

For more information about me:

Visit www.canscaip.org.

 

Visit cwill.bc.ca.