Frances Schoonmaker

My first published work was a mystery that appeared as a serial in the high school paper. It was complete with an astonishing number of bodies and a fireplace with sconces, one of which was the key to a secret passage. What can I say? I came across it recently and had a good laugh.

I taught in elementary school for a dozen-plus years before becoming a professor at Teachers, College, Columbia University. So you'll see a couple of my scholarly books in my list. People often ask why I decided to write for kids after being a professor. I haven't thought of it as a big change. My whole professional life has been devoted to children and their education. This is another way or supporting them. But I confess, I didn't quite leave the scholar behind. It was a real challenge to write a fantasy set in particular periods in history. My background in historical research was a great help as I explored new work on the Great Westward Expansion, World Wars I and II, and the Chumash people who settled along the Pacific Coast of Southern California.