I grew up in Ware, Massachusetts, in a magical era known as the 1990s. I spent a lot of time doing typical 4-H horse kid activities like cleaning stalls, polishing tack with friends while listening to the Backstreet Boys on the dusty barn radio, jumping our horses over strange homemade obstacles, and cleaning stalls. My favorite books were The Saddle Club series, and I had all 101 books and 14 Super Editions and could tell you the title and plot of each one (fun fact: they didn’t diagnose ADHD and autism in girls much back then!). I grew up surrounded by books and art, because my mother, Ruth Sanderson, is an award-winning children’s book illustrator.

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In college, while studying psychology, I was lucky enough to write several books for the Horse Diaries series. I also spent a summer volunteering at Little Brook Farm, a horse rescue and nonprofit in Old Chatham, NY. After finishing a master’s degree in clinical psychology, I started an unrelated job (hello, ADHD!), as a publicist for Interlink Books, an independent publisher in Northampton, Massachusetts (be sure to check out their amazing books!). I have also had the privilege of working with many of their talented authors and translators as an editor. 

 

I’ve kept writing books along the way—many about horses and some on other subjects, from history to mindfulness. I include neurodivergent characters and those with differing abilities in my writing as much as possible, because representation matters. I believe books are a gateway to learning so much about others and ourselves, and writing books for kids, especially now that I have one of my own, is a lifelong dream come true.