Biography: 

Beckie grew up in Utah and Arizona and was the eldest of nine children. When she was six years old her parents had eight kids. Beckie, age six, a set of twins (boy and girl, age four), a set of twins (boys, age two), and triplet girls who were babies. And then her youngest sister came all by herself when Beckie was eleven. Beckie grew up changing diapers, feeding babies and playing with a lot of siblings. Her mother had little time to read to them, but when she was ordered to stay in bed while pregnant with the triplets she read them the book HEIDI. Beckie loved it and it is still one of her favorite books. A few years ago she was able to hike in the Swiss Alps and all the magic of the story she felt when she was a tiny child came back to her.

In high school she took a creative writing class and it was then she first learned that she enjoyed writing. She liked making things up. Her daughters and siblings will tell you she has always embellished stories and as a writer she gets paid for it. It’s fun!

She graduated from college with her first daughter in her arms. From there she went into full time mother mode, having two more children.  The eldest had special needs and her life consumed Beckie’s life. After she died, Beckie volunteered at her other daughters’ schools but she felt empty. A good friend suggested she write about her daughter. So Beckie took a class at UCLA called writing for children and began writing.

When Beckie and her family moved from Los Angeles to Virginia it was no longer convenient to take writing classes and Beckie realized the picture book she had started really was a novel. So she applied to the Vermont College MFA program and was able to work with wonderful children’s authors, who taught her how to write novels.

When Beckie is not writing, she loves to listen to audiobooks while she gardens, cleans or takes a long distance walk with her husband (They’ve walked across England). But her very favorite activity is swimming in the ocean–the colder it is the more she loves it!