The clue that Kathy Stinson has had a lifelong love of reading is in the wide range of books that she has written. "What you read," she says, "influences what you write. And so does the day to day life that you live."

That’s why some of Kathy’s characters have argued with parents and friends, and had cozy chats with them; have had trouble sleeping and ridden bikes along dirt paths; have fallen for someone in the summer and walked both beaches and city streets.

Kathy says, "It’s also fun, as a writer, to imagine yourself into situations unlike your own." That’s what she did when she wrote about Marie-Claire, who lived through a smallpox epidemic in Montreal in 1885, and Mr. Elliot, the caretaker who waited till he was agrandfather before he learned to read.

Kathy long ago sorted mail, waited tables, and taught school for five years, before finally figuring out that what she really wanted to do was write. Many of her titles have been published both in Canada and abroad. In 1987 Kathy travelled to England as part of the first international exchange of Canadian and British children's authors, organized by The Canadian Children's Book Centre.

In 1996 she received a Bicentennial Civic Award of Merit from the City of Scarborough. A member of The Writers' Union of Canada, CANSCAIP, IBBY-Canada, the Canadian Children's Book Centre, and PEN Canada, Kathy has worked as Writer-in-Residence for the Kitchener, East York, Toronto, and Vaughan library systems and as a Writer In Electronic Residence.

Kathy is also the mother of two grown children, who inspired some of her earliest books. (She now has over 30 titles to her credit which include young adult fiction, novels for middle readers, picture books, non-fiction, and stories in magazines.) She also has two grown stepdaughters and five grandchildren. They all know that any time she’s out buying them a present, chances are good that it will be... a book. Of course!