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“My love of writing began with reading. Growing up, reading was one of my favorite activities. Every year I joined my library’s summer reading club and read stacks of books - chapter books, picture books, non-fiction books . . . all kinds of books! I loved discovering exciting new places and people through reading.
I still spend hours at my library reading children’s books. I'm fascinated by the colorful photos and facts in non-fiction books. I enjoy the beautiful illustrations and carefully woven stories of picture books. I love to read and I love to write!”
Q: What was your favorite book when you were young?
 A: "I had four favorites - The Mouse and the Motorcycle,
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,
The Boxcar Children, and
The Toothpaste Millionaire (This book came in one of my Weekly Reader
Book Club shipments. It's a clever story about a boy named Rufus who made a fortune by making and selling his own toothpaste.)"
Q: What books do you enjoy writing the most?
A: "Tough question! I like writing about science and nature. I am fascinated by famous historical figures and love to write biographies. It's fun to discover quirky and unusual facts about animals and put that interesting information into books. I also spend a lot of time outside, so I find writing about outdoor activities and sports is exciting too. The list could go on and on . . ."
Q: What is your favorite animal?
A: My dog Corduroy, of course! 
Q: What do you do when you're not writing?
A: One of my favorite things to do is to go in-line skating at a huge park near my home called Independence Grove. I took this picure when I was skating there this fall. Gorgeous!
Q: Do you pick the illustrators for your books?
A:I'm asked this question often during school visits and students are always surprised to find out I don't pick my illustrators, the publishers do. Publishers have smart Art Directors who know a lot about art, and which illustrators are best for each type of book. Sylvan Dell Publishing chose Joan Waites to illustrate my picture books, What's New at the Zoo? and What's the Difference? because she draws adorable animals. Another publisher, Albert Whitman, selected the award-winning and very talented Colin Bootman to illustrate Climbing Lincoln's Steps. He painted magnificent, moving scenes and incredible people for that title. In a word, he's awesome!
Q: How did you become a writer?
A: "My answer to this question is long, because like many writers my journey to become an author was also rather long. Growing up, science and math were my favorite classes, and I never imagined I would be a author.
But looking back, I can see how my interest in writing grew through the years.
I wrote my first story in first grade.
In response to my teacher’s question – “What would
you do if you found a candy tree?” I cranked out a whopping
four pages! Although I misspelled 22 words (and wasn’t overly concerned with neatness)
my first grade teacher, Ms. Hudson, encouraged
me with kind words, two stars,
and a smiley face.
Around the age of ten, my family began spending every Christmas on the tiny island of Tortola. For two weeks we had no T.V. or telephone (this was before cell phones, laptops,
or iPods). In the evening I often wrote in a journal and drew maps
of the places we'd sailed during the day. These trip journals were my first books!
In fourth grade, my teacher assigned us to write a letter to our favorite author. After careful consideration,
(I loved many authors!) I wrote to Beverly Cleary. I was amazed when she sent back a handwritten letter in her fancy cursive writing!
Then I wrote to more favorite
authors and illustrators: Lois Lenski, Bil Keane (cartoon illustrator), Madeleine L’Engle (Wrinkle in Time), Carolyn Haywood and
Lois Darling (she illustrated Beverly Cleary’s books).
I soon received more hand-written notes.
I discovered authors were interesting, kind, real people who cared about the children who read their books! And I secretly wondered what it would be like to be an author.
 Following my love of science and math, I studied mechanical engineering in college. My days were filled with science and math classes, but I also enjoyed my one writing class. After graduation, I worked at McDonnell Douglas in California as a test engineer on Delta IV rockets which NASA used to launch weather satellites. I
worked in a “clean room” (a lab where people
wore white suits and hats - think lunch-lady look) and in
an underground bomb shelter where we tested rocket parts. Later, I moved back to my home state, Indiana, and I designed
brake boosters (round metal things that help cars stop)
for Ford.
These jobs were exciting and interesting, but I never thought I’d find something I love as much as writing
books for children!
 I
left engineering in 1993 when I became a mom.
I was at the Tour de France bike race in Paris (yes,
I saw Lance Armstrong) when a special baby girl was
born in the U.S. My husband and I got on a plane the next day. We
flew home and fell in love with, and adopted, our new baby daughter. One year later I gave birth to our son.
Then things really got crazy. We moved
to three different states and into four houses in twelve months for my husband's job. This was tough because I like peace and order. But during all this commotion, there was always one activity that relaxed the whole family - reading. I literally read hundreds
of picture books every week to my children.
As the years went on, I began to dream about writing books for children, but I didn't tell anyone because I thought it was impossible. Then one day I heard a famous author share his struggles to become a writer and how he gave it his best shot anyway, so I was inspired to do the same.
In the end, it seems my writing career could be expressed by the following equation:
(2 kids) X (12 hours/day) X (7 days/week) X (children’s
books)2 =
2 happy kids + 1 mom who dreamed of writing kids books
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Suzanne's career change from engineering to author.
