Why am I fascinated by nature? Maybe because I grew up near the Rocky Mountains, where I woke every day to an awe-inspiring view.

Or maybe because I learned so many incredible things while earning degrees in Biology, Zoology, and Ecology, evolution, and animal behavior.

Or maybe it's because of moments like these:

• Picking up a garter snake that promptly regurgitated hundreds of earthworms (a very effective maneuver that made me drop it immediately).
• Dipping my hand in a tub full of "baby" honey bees (newly emerged, less than an hour old--they couldn't sting yet and were incredibly soft and teddy bearish).
• Being spied on by a doe. She crept up behind me and watched me from just a few feet away. Her soft eyes were enormous and inquisitive.
• Being tickled by a baby bat. (They're very fast climbers!)
• Having a day gecko run up my arm and across my face to hide in my hair.
• Seeing the Milky Way stretch across a sky dotted with millions of stars. (One of those rare sights that you can really only see far from civilization.)
• Watching clouds slowly rotate during a thunderstorm. They only turn into funnels about half the time.
• Watching heat lightning play across an open field or hail turn the summer landscape white.
• Standing in the eye of a hurricane (Ike in 2008).

Every kid deserves the chance to connect with nature through moments like these. That's why I write.

I am a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).