Helaine Becker is the bestselling writer of more than 50 children's and YA books: fiction, non-fiction, picture books, and verse. Her chapter book series, The Looney Bay All-Stars, has sold over 180,000 copies to date; A Porcupine in a Pine Tree was the #1 Canadian National Bestseller and received the Libris Picture Book of the Year Award from the C.B.A. She also is a three-time winner of the Silver Birch Award: for Boredom Blasters in 2006, and Secret Agent Y.O.U. in 2008; What's the Big Idea? received the Silver Birch Honour Award in 2011. The Insecto-Files was awarded the first ever Lane Anderson Award for Science Writing for Children - an award that included a $10,000 cash prize. Helaine is in high demand as a presenter and performer at schools across North America. She has twice been selected for the Canadian Children's Book Week Cross Country tour, travelling to both Yukon and Nunavut to present to school children. She has been a featured speaker at the Frye Festival in New Brunswick, Aloud International Children's Festival in Ontario, Weaving Words Conference in Alberta, Literacy for Life Conference in Saskatchewan, and the Red Cedar Awards in British Columbia. She was also a featured speaker at the 2009 Orange County Children's Book Festival in Costa Mesa, California and the 2010 Women's Writers' Festival in Irvine, California. A New York native, she has lived happily in Toronto for more than 20 years. She has been on the executive board of CANSCAIP (the Canadian Society of Children's Authors and Illustrators), and is a member of the Canadian Children's Book Centre, The Writers Union of Canada, Canadian Science Writers Association, SCBWI, and the World Fantasy Organization. She is married with two teenage sons and has the cutest dog in the world, Ella. She is also a runner, a loud laugher, and a certified pyrotechnician. www.helainebecker.com www.helainebecker.blogspot.com www.twitter.com/helainebecker