Lori Sims

Lori Sims and her husband, Vern, live with the real cats, Marvin and

Minnie, in Fort Collins, Colorado.

STARVIN' MARVIN AND SKINNY MINNIE MELT MINNESOTA is her second book in the Marvin and Minnie series. This book includes a "Free Reader Workbook" of 8 learning strategies. Teachers may use it in their classrooms and adapt the content for various upper elementary ages.

Dressed as a black cat, Ms. Sims visits elementary schools and teaches children a writing method she coined and developed -- writing with PSSTT: Pictures, Sounds, Smells, Taste and Touch. During her program, Ms. Sims helps children learn how writing with their senses is easier than they think! Children learn to become more creative, resourceful and better writers. She also helps children know why it's important to be a HERO, which stands for someone who Helps Everyone & Respects Others.

Many of the events and cats’ behaviors in the books are true. Marvin loves adventure, while Minnie is shy. Marvin really did slip into a bubble bath. Minnie wails every morning at 6:30 a.m. to get fed. Marvin did chase a squirrel up a tree and bent the branch until it nearly snapped. This exact moment sparked the idea for Lori Sims' first book, STARVIN' MARVIN AND SKINNY MINNIE SHAKE UP SAN FRANCISCO, released in Fall 2009.

Growing up a tomboy in quaint Enderlin, North Dakota, Ms. Sims sought adventure on long summer days. She and her friends explored empty buildings, poked into old boxcars, and even walked barefoot across the town's river dam while rushing waters bubbled on the rocks below.

And they say cats have nine lives.

Ms. Sims received a degree in journalism and media communications from Minnesota State University and has earned more than two dozen state and national writing awards. Currently she is a fund-raising director at Colorado State University in Fort Collins.

Proceeds from the sale of the Marvin and Minnie books are donated to a scholarship for poverty prevention in memory of the author's father, Pershing Sims.