Just in case you have a book report, here are 10 things to know about me.

1. I was born in Oak Park, IL and lived just a mile or so from the childhood home of the author Ernest Hemingway. His house is more than twice and big as the one I lived in when I was little but mine is closer to Longfellow Park which was my favorite place to play. I moved away from Oak Park when I was five.

2. I grew up in Portland, Oregon where I live now with my family in a farm house that is more than 100 years old. Sometimes I have chickens and sometimes I have rabbits and always I have a very weedy garden. My summer office is in a fir tree. I have many cherry, plum, and pear trees, a walnut tree, an apple tree and a very peculiar-looking peach tree.

3. I have also lived in Spokane, WA, Taholah, WA, Ft Huachuca, AZ, Aschaffenburg, Germany, and Ft Hood, TX. I have visited all but 8 of the states in America so I’m definitely looking for an excuse to visit North Dakota, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Maine.

4. My favorite job, besides writing and being a teacher, was being a summer camp counselor. I worked at Camp Howard which is on the slope of Mt. Hood. I still go camping there every year if I can. Here is a view of Mt Hood from Trillium Lake.

5. I can play the violin, and I can juggle, and I am learning to play the harp, but I cannot throw a frisbee to save my life.

6. My grandfather lived with my family when I was growing up. He was born in Berlin. He immigrated to this country when he was a teenager in 1905, and he lived to be 96 years old.

7. I have a brother and a sister who are twins, four children who are not twins and more than thirty nieces and nephews. Mark Twain said, “A man with a big family stands a broader mark for sorrow, but he stands a broader mark for joy as well.” I have found that to be true.

8. Research is one of my favorite things about writing. Sometimes I research in the library but sometimes I research while camping in the mountains or canoeing on rivers and lakes. I go to museums. I go looking for whales in a kayak. I take pictures of plants and animals and listen to birds and the sound of the wind. I swim in the ocean and listen to people sing and learn how to dance. And best of all, I talk to interesting people from all over the world.

9. When I am not writing, I like to ride my bike, hike, make music, climb trees, dance, go to the beach or the mountains, and read books.

10. Lots of really great children’s authors and illustrators live in Portland. My favorite thing about being a children’s writer is the friends I have made. These are some writers I know from Portland: Nora Ericson, Carmen Bernier-Grand, Carolyn Digby Conahan, Trudy Ludwig, Susan Hill Long, Fonda Lee, Heidi Schultz, Barry Deutsch, Emily Whitman, Cindy Baldwin, Mark Fearing, Emily Winfield Martin, Laini Taylor, Dylan Meconis, Kim Johnson, Kate Ristau, Waka T. Brown, Brian W Parker, Anne Broyles, and Deborah Hopkinson. I hope you read and enjoy their books too.

BONUS: You can follow me on Instagram at rosanne.parry. If you are in Portland, Oregon you can visit the bookstore where I work. Annie Blooms Books is at 7834 SW Capitol Highway. If you want me to sign a book for you, call them or order at their website and leave a message of who to dedicate the book to in the notes field at the end of your order. (503) 246-0053 www.annieblooms.com