Lynne Marie grew up in the music, art and creativity of the 60s. She was born in Brooklyn, New York and was adopted as a baby. As a child she grew up on Long Island, and spent her time coloring, drawing, reading and playing with her beloved plastic dinosaurs (which she still has).
Her favorite grade in school was Kindergarten because that’s when she first began to put words and pictures together to tell stories. The first time (and every time) she received the Scholastic Book Club Flyer in the late 60s, she knew she wanted to be a Children’s Book Author. Her dream came true when Scholastic Book Clubs published her first picture book, Hedgehog Goes to Kindergarten (originally titled School Bus Buddies).
Lynne Marie always had a vivid imagination and a love for folklore, fairy tales and fantasy. She also had a soft-spot for animals -- stuffed, cartoon or real, and still does. Some of her pets include an adopted Stray Cat named Puss-in-Boots, a feral cat named Sahara, a chihuahua/terrier named Buckaroo Rootbeer, a Belgian Schipperke named Dante, and Hedgehogs -- Apollo Nike, as well as Willow, and her babies Sirena, Athena and Hamlet. She currently shares her home with a Belgian Schipperke named Anakin Jake (after Star Wars’ Anakin Skywalker and Jake from Twilight). She has yet to obtain her own elephant or giraffe, but does have a Giraffe named Raffi in her picture book, The Star in the Christmas Play. Her hedgehogs provide inspiration for Hedgehog Goes to Kindergarten, and Hedgehog’s 100th Day of School.
She loves both reading and travel as a way to discover new people, places, things and experiences. She’s worked as a Travel Agent with Pixie Vacations for over 8 years. She’s been to Disney World many, many times since it opened in 1971 (and Disneyland and Euro Disney), as well as Sea World and Universal Studios on both coasts. She’s travelled to parts of Canada (Quebec, Toronto, Nova Scotia and Cape Breton), Hawaii (Maui, Oahu and the Big Island), Puerto Rico, the US’s Eastern Seaboard, as well as California, Nevada and Texas. She loves to travel to Europe and soak in the art, culture and European History, and has been to Belgium (2x), Belize (2x), Denmark, England (2x), Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Holland (2x), Ireland, Italy, Monaco, Northern Ireland, Russia, Scotland (2x), Spain (2x), and Sweden. She’s also been to Mexico many times and several Caribbean countries (Bermuda (3x), Cuba, Grand Cayman (2x), Haiti (2x), Jamaica (2x) and St. Barths, St. Maarten (2x) and more. She hopes someday to travel to Germany, Israel and Transylvania, places featured in her sequel to her monster family book, Moldilocks and the Three Scares.
Her favorite places are “the world,” the library and Disney World. Find out more about some of these places in her fifth book, Let’s Eat, Mealtime Around the World.
Lynne Marie currently lives on a lake in South Florida, where she’s greeted each morning by many feathered and scaly friends, including Blue Heron, Wood Storks, Snowy Egrets, Anhingas, Cormorants, Turtles, Coots, Muscovy Ducks, Ibis, Egyptian Geese, and Pelicans to name a few. An alligator lives across the street, but she has yet to meet him. Her love for these creatures and concern for plastic pollution have inspired her upcoming picture book.
She has two children, Kevin and Kayla, both of who provide plenty of inspiration for her stories. She’s the Owner and Administrator of Rate Your Story (www.rateyourstory.org) and runs her own imprint at Spork Books.