Susanna Leonard Hill

Susanna Leonard Hill grew up in New York City with her mom and dad, one sister and two brothers, and an assortment of cats. She went to the Brearley School for K - 12, then received her B.A. in English and Psychology from Middlebury College. She then went on to get her M.A. and M.Ed. in Counseling Psychology and Special Education of Children With Learning Disabilities from Teacher's College, Columbia University.

She worked for many years teaching dyslexic students, but stopped after her third child was born. Now she spends her time being a mom, writing, and visiting schools whenever she gets the opportunity.

Susanna began writing as soon as she could hold a pencil. She used to lie on the kitchen floor and ask her mom how to spell things. She wrote her first book in 2nd Grade. It is called The Girl and The Witch and she will read it to you if she comes to visit your school!

Her first published book was The House That Mack Built, released by Little Simon in 2002.

Since then, she has published six more books: Punxsutawney Phyllis (Holiday House, 2005), Taxi! (Little Simon, 2005), No Sword Fighting In The House (Holiday House, 2007), Not Yet, Rose (Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2009), and Airplane Flight! and Freight Train Trip! (Little Simon, 2009.) Can't Sleep Without Sheep, due out from Walker Books in Fall 2010, is in the process of being illustrated by Mike Wohnoutka, and Jeff Ebbeler is hard at work illustrating Punxsutawney Phyllis and the April Fools, due out from Holiday House in 2011!

Susanna has won awards in several National Writing Contests, including First Place in the 2005 SouthWest Writer's Children's Picture Book Contest for her story Not Yet, Rose, First Place in the 2005 Seven Hills Contest for Writers (Children's Fiction) for 3 stories, First Place in the 2006 CNW/​FFWA Florida State Writing Competition (Children's Literature Division) for The One-Hour Bicycle, First Place in the 2007 CNW/​FFWA Florida State Writing Competition (Children's Literature Division) for The Sisters Club, and First Place in the 2007 Seven Hills Contest for Writers (Children's Fiction) for Gone Fishin'. Her story Rainy Day Parade will appear in an upcoming issue of Highlights Magazine.