See that dorky looking girl? That’s me in the 5th grade. That’s the year I read every single biography in my elementary school library. I loved fiction, too, but it was thrilling for me to learn about the accomplishments of real-live people like Eleanor Roosevelt, Jesse Owens and Babe Dickerson. I still love to read, but I now have slightly better hair than I did back then!

I grew up on a farm in Iowa in a family with a younger, beautiful sister, a younger, mischievous brother, and two loving parents. We had a few cows and hogs and nearly every type of “hobby” livestock you can imagine, from rabbits and ducks to homing pigeons (I don’t remember ever releasing the pigeons to see if they could find their way home).

I’ve wanted to be a writer forever. As a third grader, I started a newspaper for the kids on my school bus. From there, I went on to become editor of my junior high, high school, and college newspapers. I studied journalism at the University of Iowa, where my husband, Mitch, and I fell in love during a snowball fight (he has horrible aim).

My first job out of college was – you guessed it – as a newspaper reporter. Since then, I’ve written for all sorts of magazines and newspapers about hundreds of different topics. My jobs have allowed me to do some incredibly cool things, like ride an elephant and compete on the game show “Wheel of Fortune.”

In 2003, I wrote my first nonfiction book for young readers. In the years since, I’ve written more than two dozen books on topics ranging from wild ponies to Cy Young-winning pitchers to red-hot pop stars. I’m also working on some fiction projects and hope you’ll be able to find those in your library soon.

I now live in Tacoma, Washington, with my husband and our kids: Eve and Eli. I share an office with a rambunctious Airedale terrier named Iris. I love what I do and I promise you this:
 

I’ll keep writing if you’ll keep reading!
                              -Mary Boone