![]() ![]() ![]() Even though I didn't grow up to be a composer, I like to think that my picture books are almost songs because the sound of words and the poetry of my style are so important in the texts that I write. Writing picture books came much later-after studying history in college, getting married, and raising three children. (This was before mountain bikes!) Pedaling slowly up my street may be where I learned perseverance, something all writers need when they are working alone at their desks. But coming home, we had to pedal up our long hill. My two sisters and I used to ride our bikes down, down our street, and then to the local dimestore to buy candy bars or meet up with our friends. I grew up in a house at the top of a steep street in Cincinnati, Ohio, the kind of street that is a big challenge when you are pedaling uphill on your bicycle. Kempczinski was a natural thing for me to do. Names and their pronunciations have always interested me, so writing about a teacher named Mrs. Leezie is also tough for people to spell. Sometimes my mail is addressed to Louisa, or Louisie, or Lewis, or Lois. ![]() Then there were four of us with the same name! Louise is a fine name to have except that people often spell it incorrectly. Years later, my niece was born and also named Louise. This is a name that my family still calls me. ![]() So early on, I was given the name Leezie. There were already two Louises in my family when I was born: my mother and my grandmother, Nana, who lived with us when I was growing up. ![]()
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