Barbara Ensor isn't looking at you in this photograph because she wouldn't actually be able to see you anyway and this way you can see what her silhouette looks like. (Since after all she is always making silhouettes of other things.) Barbara Ensor did many daring things in her life, like walk on stilts, but she never dared to write a children's book until she was fifty years old. After that she knew she wanted to write many more books for children (and maybe adults as well) and to make the pictures to go with them so she had better hurry up. Press the button on her website, BarbaraEnsor.com and tell her to write another book right away.To prepare for being an author and artist Barbara Ensor did many many things. She listened carefully to the stories her mother and father told her. In due course she began to tell her own stories (not all of them true) as a mother, as a puppeteer, an illustrator, a clay animation teacher, and a journalist. Barbara Ensor grew up mostly in London England where she figured out how to make pictures with whatever was around. Her two children, who are now taller than her, taught her most of what is most important to know. Barbara Ensor lives in Brooklyn, New York where an awful lot of people turn into authors and artists for reasons nobody knows for sure.Barbara Ensor doesn't believe in fairy tales, but she lives happily ever after, and hopes you do too.