The daughter of a U.S. Immigrations Officer father and a registered
nurse/model/television personality mother, Virginia Kroll grew up in West
Seneca, New York.
The inspiration for her new picture book came when the author was driving
home from a rural church service and saw a yellow plastic bowl blowing across a
newly harvested field. Wondering where it came from and why it was there, she
began imagining the adventures it might take. The story came together in her
mind naturally.
Virginia Kroll is a prolific writer with over sixty books published since
1992 and 1,750 published magazine items. A full-time author and speaker as well
as a writing instructor with the Institute of Children's Literature, her books
range in subject from African folktales to universals, such as siblings and
heroes. She is a former teacher with six kids of her own and two
granddaughters.
Kroll's book publications have received numerous awards, including a Jane
Addams Peace Association commendation; a 1996 listing on the New York Charlotte
Award Masterlist; a 1995 KIND Book of the Year Award (Humane Society of the
United States); the 1996 Skipping Stones Multicultural Book Award in Best
Picture Book; the 1996 Outstanding Trade Book in the Field of Science; three
Benjamin Franklin Awards; the 2004 Bank Street College Best Children's Book of
the Year; and the International Reading Association/Children's Book Council 2004
Children's Choice Award.
Virginia Kroll has worked as a nurse aide, recreations supervisor, art
teacher, and a crafts teacher. She teaches religion at SS Peter & Paul Church,
collects stickers, and is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and
Illustrators, the Retired Teachers and Librarians Association, and the Executive
Women of America. A dedicated animal lover, she and her family share their home
in Hamburg, New York, just south of Buffalo, with more than forty animals,
including tortoises, rabbits, guinea pigs, dogs, cats, degus, budgies, and a
hedgehog.