Susan Heyboer O'Keefe

I grew up in a small town in New Jersey. 

Chorus: How small was it?

It was so small that not even people in the next town over had heard of it. They were on top of a cliff and didn't know there was a town at the bottom of the cliff. 

School

I went to Catholic grammar school and was perfect. I went to Catholic high school and was almost expelled for the incendiary valedictorian speech I planned to give. I went to a state college and state university after that. Just coincidence.

Job

To atone for the above, I’m now a word wrangler for THE CHURCH. This means I have to lasso words that are levitating with joy, correct sinful subject-verb agreement, and bring all punctuation into the fullness of the Faith. Speaking of punctuation (which I was, but undoubtedly you weren't), my favorite punctuation mark is the em dash—which I just used to show you how elegant it is. The em dash is often confused with the en dash, which in turn is often confused with the hyphen. These disturbing mistakes are why people who have favorite punctuation marks are allowed to have jobs.  

Latest Work for Young People

Death by Eggplant is a middle-grade novel about letting the world know your secret dreams. It was one of just five nominees for the Disney Adventures Kids’ Choice Humor Award. It lost to Peter and the Starcatchers. If I had to lose to someone, Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson would be at the top of my list.  

Right Now

I'm up in northern New Jersey, which everyone says is “bear country,” even though I've never seen one. Once I did see what I thought was a St. Bernard running across the road. So maybe...Besides these apparently invisible bears, I live with my husband, my son, and two parrots.