Dara has been writing stories and drawing funny, little animals since she was a young girl. She first fell in love with art at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School where she and her sisters got to attend art classes almost every saturday morning while she was growing up. Later, she went to Skidmore College where she studied fine art and art history. "Creating children's books allows me to make the kind of art I love, and that seems to come naturally to me. When I am lucky enough to be the author of the book I am illustrating, it is the best, because there are no limits, other than the ones I make for myself." A freelance illustrator for 25 years, Dara's work still has that sense of child-like whimsy and magical delight. Her spirited watercolors have appeared in numerous publications from Your Big Backyard Magazine to The New York Times. She has illustrated eighteen children's books, and written and illustrated five. Dara also loves to animate, and has created animations with 360KID for On-Demand Television, and educational software with Fablevision for Learning.com. Dara visits schools and libraries to inspire children, and show them step-by-step what it takes to put together a picture book. She lives in Massachusetts, and teaches illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design Continuing Education Program, and the Danforth Museum of Art. She has two daughters, a cat, and an enormous dog.