Aline says, "I write because...

...when I was 10 years old, my cousins lived in an old stone house that legend says served as a station on the Underground Railroad. People claimed there'd been an escape tunnel in the basement. Oh, how I wanted to find that tunnel! But my cousins refused to dig for it. Finally, when I could no longer stand the frustration, I sat down and wrote a story about it. It was fifty pages, in pencil, but that satisfied me. Writing, whether fiction or non-fiction, does the same for me today."

Aline specializes in writing for kids...

One day in third grade, I was dawdling in the hall on my way to the principal's office. Peering through an open door I glimpsed a teacher unpacking cartons of books, and my heart leaped. The school was turning a janitor's room into a library. I still remember the first books I borrowed -- 1001 Arabian Nights and The Boxcar Children. That is why I love writing for kids. Because what we read when we're young stays with us forever.

She's a life-long animal lover...

It all started with three blind mice. Really. I found the tiny orphans in a desk drawer and fed them with an eye dropper. Since then, I've had rabbits, dogs, cats, birds -- everything but a horse, which I always wanted but couldn't have growing up in the city. Thank goodness a kind rancher who lived outside of town let me ride his.

A wildlife writer...

My cousin, Ruth Davis, worked for Jane Goodall studying chimpanzees in Tanzania, Africa. Unfortunately, she died over there. I like to think I'm helping carry on her mission when I pen animal stories for National Geographic Kids. Sixty so far and still counting.

An inspirational storyteller...

Faith 'N Stuff published my very first article in 1993. Sad to say, they no longer exist. But I still write for their mother mag, Guideposts, which was voted America's favorite inspirational magazine! When writing for them, I sometimes use my own byline and sometimes I'm a ghostwriter, meaning I help other people tell their stories.

And a teacher...

Teaching was my first profession. Over the years, I've taught full-time, part-time, and as a substitute. I've taught every level from pre-K to adult. And I've done it in my own classroom, college classrooms, the jailhouse, and factory lunchrooms. For six years, I taught Consumer Homemaking in a specially-equipped mobile classroom that I piloted all over the back roads of Herkimer County, NY.

How Aline stays current...

I belong to the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA). For several years, I moderated panels at the annual ASJA Writers Conference, in New York City. My most popular and oft-repeated one was called "First Pages," where a select group of literary agents critqued audience manuscripts on the spot. I also did panels on "Writing about Pets," and "Writing Non-fiction for Children."

Her family includes...

My husband Neil is a specialty papermaking consultant. He's also my webmaster, computer guru, first reader, and dearest friend. We have two sons. Wade is a licensed Professional Engineer and Landscape Architect, in Saratoga Springs, NY. He and his wife, Brie, have a son and a daughter. Matthew and his wife, Terry, have one daughter and live in Old Forge, NY. He is a manager at the Old Forge Campground.

Fun to know...

RASCALLY RABBITS, my fourth offering in the "National Geographic Kids Chapters" series, is especially dear to my heart. That's because it includes personal, true stories about our own family pets. Sniffles, our dwarf rabbit, stars in the first tale. And the third story in the book features our rescue dog, Moose.