I started my first career as a ballerina dancing with the National Ballet, New York City Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, and the Danny Diamond Dance Theatre. I also served as alignist and choreographer for the U.S Figure Skating Team in preparation for the Pan American Games (1973), and for the 1976 Olympic Gymnastics team. In 1980 I became too ill with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (JRA) to continue dancing. Because I had done a lot of children's theatre and children's dance, and I have always enjoyed children's literature, I turned to writing children's books for my creative outlet.

But my writing career actually began much earlier than 1980. When I was a young girl, I had two older brothers who took great joy in teasing me.

When I was in the fourth grade, I began keeping journals of the silly things they would say and do. Then I began adding things my pets did. Finally, I began to write down everything I saw and heard every day.

When I was in my early twenties, my mother found my journals and I turned the stories into my first book called, Happy Apple Told Me. But, I learned a very hard lesson writing that first book. I learned that you don't just write a book; you rewrite, and rewrite, and rewrite, and rewrite a book. Thirty years later, I am still learning.

My passionate advocacy for children continually molds my writing style and subject matter. I have taken my one-woman educational program, The Writing Penn, into schools, libraries, and children's hospitals, where I shape and refine my story ideas in partnership with kids.

My favorite part about being a children's author is meeting my readers when I speak at a school or at a store. I get so many wonderful ideas from you, and you, and you. So, thank you for your inspired ideas, and letters, and emails. Now, it's your turn to keep a journal.

I live with my husband, my youngest daughter (who inspired The Kissing Hand ), and two dogs in Olney, Maryland. We have three children and one foster child.

Awards:

• 1975  Outstanding Young Women of America
• 1993  Chronicles of Courage: Very Special Artists (Chapter 11), by Jean Kennedy Smith and George Plimpton
• 2002  Helen Keating Ott Award for Outstanding Contribution to Children's Literature
• 2005  Mom of the Month (March), Parenting.com
• 2006  iParenting Media Awards

Book Titles:

• Happy Apple Told Me  (1975)
  • Caldecott Medal Nominee
  • Midstate Library Association Award
• Blue Out Of Season  (1984)
  • Mid-State Library Association Award
  • Very Special Arts Recognition Award
• No Bones About Driftiss  (1989)
• The Kissing Hand  (1994)
  • New York Times #1 Bestseller
  • Educational Press Association of America - Distinguished Achievement Award for Excellence in Educational Journalism
  
• Sassafras  (1997)
• A.D.D. Not B.A.D.  (2002)
• Feathers And Fur  (2003)
• The Whistling Tree (2004)
• A Pocket Full Of Kisses  (2004)
  • New York Times Bestseller
• Mystery At Blackbeard's Cove  (2004)
• A Kiss Goodbye  (2007)
• Blackbeard And The Sandstone Pillar: When Lightning Strikes   (2007)
• Blackbeard And The Gift of Silence   (2007)
• Chester Raccoon And The Big Bad Bully  (2008)
• The Miracle Jar  (2008)
• Chester Raccoon and the Acorn Full of Memories  (2009)

Upcoming Titles:

• A Bedtime Kiss for Chester Raccoon   (2011)
• Chester's Favorite Color Game   (2011)
• Blackbeard's Legacy: Shared/Time  (2012)
• Chester The Brave   (2012)