Lee Wardlaw swears that her first spoken word was 'kitty'. Since then, she's shared her life with close to 30 cats (not all at the same time!) and published close to 30 books for children, tweens and teens, selling more than one million copies world-wide. Lee's newest books include: WON TON - A CAT TALE TOLD IN HAIKU (Holt, illustrated by Eugene Yelchin), recipient of the 2012 Lee Bennett Hopkins Children's Poetry Award and the 2012 Myra Cohn Livingston Children's Poetry Award, among others; RED, WHITE AND BOOM! (Holt, illustrated by Huy Voun Lee), a CCBC Best Books of the Year and a Parents' Choice Award "Recommended" Book; and 101 WAYS TO BUG YOUR FRIENDS AND ENEMIES (Penguin), winner of the Forward National Literature Award for Humor.Lee grew up in Santa Barbara, CA, where she attended Cold Spring Elementary, Santa Barbara Junior High and Santa Barbara High school. She graduated with honors from Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo, with a degree in education, and taught elementary school for five years before deciding to write full-time. Lee earned her AMI Primary Diploma from the Montessori Institute of San Diego, and will receive her M.Ed. from Loyola University, Maryland, in 2014. She has 30+ years experience presenting lively and interactive writing programs in grades K through 8th. Since 1988, she has also taught a variety of workshops and classes for educators, librarians, parents and aspiring writers. Lee's books have been honored by the American Library Association, the International Reading Association, the Children's Book Council, the National Council of the Social Studies, the National Council of Teachers of English, Bank Street College of Education, the International School Librarians Association, and more. She is an active member of the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators, and belongs to the Author's Guild, the California Reading Association, the Children's Literature Council of Southern California, the North American Montessori Teachers Association, Association Montessori Internationale and, yes, even the Cat Writers' Association. Lee lives in Santa Barbara, CA, with her husband, teenage son, and three former cats.To learn more about Lee and her books, visit: http://www.leewardlaw.com