M.E. Strautmanis, short for Mary Ellen, grew up on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. She is a graduate of St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, Canada, and the New York School of Interior Design in New York City. After eight years of design work in Toronto, M.E. relocated with her growing family to Soho, New York, and has lived there since. M.E. is a voracious reader, a lover of the written and spoken word, a word puzzle enthusiast, and a born storyteller. She believes everyone has a story. Her six children were her first audience for her stories, both real and imaginary. M.E. has volunteered in New York City schools, fund-raised, advocated for early childhood literacy, instituted after-school programs, and opened her home to youth in crisis. She believes strongly in community involvement, the adage that it takes a village, and family is not just the people to whom we are related but all the people with whom we interact.