Virginia Silverstein was an only child and grew up in Philadelphia. She majored in chemistry and studied languages in her spare time. She met her husband, author Alvin Silverstein, in the chemistry lab at Penn when she was a senior and he was a graduate student. That led to marriage, six children, nine grandchildren, and more than 200 published books, mainly on science and health topics for children and adults. (Two of their children, Bob and Laura, have coauthored a number of books with them.) Virginia has also worked as a chemist (briefly) and as a translator of Russian science articles and books. She and her husband live in rural New Jersey, in a big old house that has hosted a variety of pets but now includes just one cat (who speaks two words of English but understands a lot more).