Lucia Raatma (1963-) was born as Lucia Tarbox in Georgetown, South Carolina, and grew up on the grounds of Brookgreen Gardens, an outdoor sculpture garden and wildlife park. She earned a B.A. in English from the University of South Carolina in 1985 and then went on to earn an M.A. in cinema studies from New York University in 1989. She was a copy editor for G. P. Putnam's Sons and later served as managing editor. After working freelance for a few years while she and her husband, Andy, started a family, Lucia was a copy editor at Reader's Digest magazine. Currently, she lives in the Tampa Bay area with Andy and their two children, Lizzie and Alex. She does freelance copy editing and writes a variety of books for the children's educational market.