About Me
Biography
I write for tweens and teens from a unique perspective - I am a teenager! I try to make my stories exciting and filled with action and humor, and make my characters relatable to teens.
I was fifteen when I wrote The Fire Stone. I also wrote the next two books in The Reign of the Elements series, The Water Stone and The Wind Stone when I was fifteen, but I wrote the last two books in the five-book series, The Immortality Scroll and The Final Alliance when I was sixteen.
I just completed the second book of an urban fantasy trilogy for teens.
I love to write, but I also am very involved with
eliminating illiteracy and poverty for children around the world. I believe that teaching children to read breaks the cycle of poverty and
exploitation of children.
Three years ago I created a non-profit organization called Breaking the Chain with the goal of eliminating illiteracy for children. So far, we have raised enough money to build three schools in Africa, one in Kenya and two in Sierra Leone. We also created a children’s literacy center in a woman’s shelter in Colorado, and bought books for reaading programs in the U.S. Currently, we are focusing on our great new program called Bookin"It, which buys books for classrooms in underfunded and/or low-literacy schools in the United States. It is an amazing program and there is enormous demand!
My brother, Nick, who is a junior in college, joined Breaking the
Chain this year and we are working together on combating illiteracy and poverty for children.
Also, I have been speaking to thousands of kids at schools around the country about my books and how important reading and writing have been in my life, about Breaking the Chain, about taking ownership over their own education, and about risking failure to achieve their dreams.
Some of the proceeds from sales of The Fire Stone go to Breaking the Chain.
For more information about me and my writing go to the FAQs
For more information about Breaking the Chain go to linkbylink.org