Maria is a writer and educator.  She has been writing stories since the first grade.  Her first story was about a lost bunny finding its way home. She now teaches third grade and loves to create stories with her students and inspire them to write and create. Maria writes picture books inspired by her childhood growing up in the Pacific Northwest.  She also enjoys teaching students to read and is writing early chapter books for reluctant readers. Maria loves adding to her own learning and teaching others to enjoy the learning process as well. She has taught special education and has a masters in teaching science.

She lives with her husband and two dogs outside of Seattle. When she is not writing, she is gardening, hiking and exploring the outdoors with her dogs and family.