When I was little, I knew books were magical. I was lucky to have a bookcase of my very own in my bedroom, filled with all kinds of stories that swept me away into faraway adventures. I loved to write when I was little, and I even won an award for a story I wrote in second grade. It was about a bear named Chocolate who adopted a grumpy troll she found when she got lost in the forest. At the awards ceremony I met a real, live author for the first time. She shook my hand and signed her book for me in celebration.
Skipping ahead to college, I worked for publishing companies that took rough ideas and turned them into stacks of shiny, printed books to ship out to customers. Later, I worked at a local bookstore, where I got to watch other shiny, new books go to loving homes. I was all grown up, but I still saw magic in books, from start to finish.
Now, I am a mom and I get to share the magic with my own three little book lovers. We’ve lived in lots of different places because my husband is in the Army. Right now, we live with a whole gaggle of woodland creatures in the Ozark highlands of Missouri.
Here are some things I like:
Collecting interesting rocks
The smell of fresh-cut lumber
Finding constellations
Hiking in the Colorado Rocky Mountains
Learning other languages
Traveling to different countries (can you find Azerbaijan on a map?)
The smell of roasting peppers at fall festivals
Baking cookies
Fun fact: my last name rhymes with lemon!
Libby Demmon graduated magna cum laude from the University of Denver with a bachelor’s degree in English and Music. She is an active member of the Society for Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and Julie Hedlund’s 12X12 Picture Book Challenge. She has a certificate in Creative Writing through Wesleyan University and is currently pursuing an MFA in writing for children from Hamline University. She writes picture books and middle grade novels.
