Ellen Schecter is a writer, producer, and educator. She's been widely published in print and on the web. She has written or collaborated on many multi-award-winning TV series for children and families, including "Reading Rainbow," and wrote the proposal and pilot for "The Magic School Bus."She's published more than twenty children's books. "The Big Idea," her first novel, [Hyperion] won the Américas award. Her Family Haggadah was a Book of the Month selection.She edited and helped write the beloved Bank Street Ready to Read series, and her articles about how to help children read appeared in Child, Parenting, and Sesame Street Parents.