ABOUT LAUREL

My name is Laurel Rebecca Snyder, and I’m the author of some books you might know, like Orphan Island, Charlie and Mouse (with Emily Hughes), Endlessly Ever After (with Dan Santat), or Swan (with Julie Morstad). I feel incredibly lucky that I get to do this wonderful thing— write books for kids— for a job!

I began writing when I was a kid myself, at about age eight. Together, my best friend Susan and I fell in love with our local library, and each day after school, we walked there and read until our parents came to pick us up. It was great, but best of all was that when we put our books down, we found that our brains kept on going— imagining brand new stories that nobody else knew. So we told them to each other, and then we started writing them down, with our plain old pencils, on whatever pieces of paper we found.

All these years later, my job hasn’t changed very much. I still walk to the public library to read. I still tell my stories to Susan. And just as I did at age eight, I still begin every book with a plain old pencil and whatever piece of paper I can find.

This site is still under construction, and I’ll have more to share soon, but for now, I wanted to welcome you, to say hello, and to let you know that you can always write to me and ask me a question, if there’s something you’re really curious about. In the meantime, here are a few very random facts about me:

1. I grew up in Baltimore, MD, but now live in a little blue house in Atlanta, GA, with my husband, two sons (who look a lot like Charlie and Mouse), and a magical cat named Eddie the Smacker.

2. I’ve published about thirty books, but I’ve written HUNDREDS. Most of them are just for me, and I LOVE talking about that with kids.

3. I love to fold laundry, but I hate to pair socks. I’m not sure why.

4. My next book will be a picture book called Shrinking Violet, with the amazing LeUyen Pham. It’s about a little girl who lives in a castle and shrinks when she’s afraid! I love it very much, and I hope you will too.

5. My room is always a little messy, and I think that’s okay.

6. My favorite book is The Thirteen Clocks, and if you haven’t read it, I highly recommend that you do.

7. I love food! And I especially love very strong flavors. I love things like salt and vinegar potato chips, black licorice, atomic fireballs, vindaloo, habanero salsa, ginger chews, lemonade, and anything with garlic.

8. I’m a very bad gardener, but spending time digging in the dirt and watching things grow makes me happier than almost anything else.

9. I love the ocean with all my heart, but whenever I see it, I cry.

10. I will always believe in unicorns, because you can’t prove they DON’T exist.