My Story

Like the protagonist of Magical Librarian, I grew up starry-eyed about books.

As a severely asthmatic child, I escaped my sick room and experienced a wider, more vivid world through books like Little Women and The Secret Garden. Later, I got lost for days at a time in novels ranging from Lord of the Rings and Wrinkle in Time to Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre. Reading lured me out to see the big world—west coast and east coast, England and Italy, cites and countryside—as I filled my life with novels, ideas, romance, nature, and travel.

For years, I studied and taught serious books. I loved it—almost every class, every book, and every student—and I love it to this day. Serious books make my mind buzz, enchant me with gorgeous prose, and create great conversations about important questions.

But when it came time to sit down and write, my imagination insisted on a counterweight to those serious novels. It wanted stories that were adventurous and romantic, upbeat and bubbly. My imagination wanted to play.

So The Magical Librarian of Tulsa, Oklahoma took shape as a frolic. Writing it has been a jeu d’esprit, a romp, a species of nerd fun. The book is as light and fizzy as a glass of Prosecco.

As for those magical creatures that roam the pages of this novel — I’m allergic to real animals, and it breaks my heart. So I indulged myself here with fantastical ones, from a student-turned-poodle and a three-headed Cerberus puppy named Ugly to the magnificent Thunder Dragon of the Himalayas and a forty-foot serpent that turns out to be… Well, you’ll have to find out the answer by reading the novel itself.

I had a lot of fun inventing Kate’s adventures. I hope you have fun reading and experiencing them.