2010 Author Events "Writers at Work" Keynote, Contra Costa Reading Council event for students, March 13 MOCHA—Museum of Children's Art reading, May 1, 1 p.m.     For school visits, conferences or interviews, you can contact me @ deborahleerose@sbcglobal.net or c/o Jason Wells, jwells@hnabooks.com. "In my seventeen years as a teacher, I have never seen an author come to my school and hook all the students with the presentation as Deborah did. Deborah has a love of the ocean, a love for writing, and a love for reading. The students were inspired and left the assembly with a new perspective for the world. What more could you ask for in an author!" —Stacey Halboth, Global Literacy teacher

This is one of my favorite ocean places—Asilomar State Beach near Monterey, California. I have seen humpback whales breaching and gray whales spouting, and held a tiny octopus from a tidepool in my hand.

 "If Whales can fly—
splash down like thunder
before they go under—
why can’t I?”

   DLR

If you love to read or write, then we are a lot alike! I have adored reading since I was little, and my love of reading books turned into a love of writing them. Of my most beloved children’s books, my favorite character is Charlotte, the spider in E. B. White’s Charlotte’s Web. Charlotte works a lot like I do. She carefully thinks about an d researches her topic.She gets ideas and help from her friends. She checks her spelling, writes and rewrites, and shows off her words when the web "glistened in the light and made a pattern of loveliness and mystery. I admire Charlotte because she loves words and takes the time to explain them. She understands that words can be very powerful—they can teach, surprise, entertain, convince, and even save a life.

My books are inspired by lots of different things, like my children’s experiences, my love of the natural world, and my family’s history and heritage. In addition to writing children’s books, I am a science writer for U.C. Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science. I help create LHS exhibits and articles on topics including amazing animals, the newest dinosaur science, and nanotechnology (the science of the very, very, very small).

When I’m not working on books, you’ll find me swimming, walking, sewing, listening to music and of course reading—but not all these at once! I love to visit places with lots of trees, mountains and ocean, where I find so much inspiration.

I am a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (www.scbwi.org), and have contributed to The ABCs of Writing for Children (by Elizabeth Koehler-Pentacoff) and Spark Your Child’s Success in Math and Science (published by LHS GEMS).