Patricia Reilly Giff

Patricia Reilly Giff began her life in Brooklyn, New York surrounded by books! As a child Giff would prefer to have her nose in a book imagining the life of each character rather than playing with the other children. Some of her favorite childhood reads included "Little Women," "The Secret Garden," and the "Black Stallion" books, the Sue Barton books, and the Nancy Drew series. So it's no surprise that she knew early on that she wanted to be a writer.

But even before her career as a popular children's book author Giff spent twenty years as a reading teacher and learned first hand what literature children love to read. So Giff's focus when she began writing was to offer new readers exciting and fun chapter books that would hold their attention. She also hoped that they would appeal to reluctant readers and keep them turning the pages too.

Giff enjoys writing books about the special gifts of ordinary people, she explains, “All of my books are based in some way on my personal experiences, or the experiences of members of my family, or the stories kids would tell me in school.”

Giff graduated from Marymount College with a B.A. degree and went on to receive her Master's Degree from St. John's University. She also holds a Professional Diploma in Reading and a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Hofstra University. Giff now resides in Weston, Connecticut with her husband Jim and her three cats.