Illistrations for Book Covers

Stephanie Anne Messina was born and grew up in San Jose, California, the youngest of three girls. In the 1950's and 60's, she experienced a wonderful blend of country on her parents fruit ranch home, along with the growing and rapidly expanding city of San Jose. By the 1960's she saw Santa Clara County's population grow from under 200,000 people to over a million by 1970. Consequently, land acreage diminished as master planned communities increased. Not until years later did she realize she grew up on a virtual oasis.

Attending parochial school in the 1960's, Stephanie grew to love reading and writing stories and poems, due not in small part to the disipline of daily journals and true study of the mechanics of English. The difficult portion aside, she developed a lifelong interest in literature and the arts. As the news editor of her school paper ("The Pirates Legend" of Piedmont Hills High School), she developed a keener eye for detail and staying focused, a life time work in progress! She graduated from Santa Clara University in 1976 with a BA in English literature. After a two year period of living in Chicago, she pursued a specialized course in the study of writing for children and teenagers. In the late 1970's, she took a lengthy course of study towards this goal. She graduated from The Institute of Children's Literature in 1981. This, Stephanie felt, truly fine tuned her skills as a writer for children and young adults.

Now a mother of four adult children, she has clearly instilled her love of reading and writing in them. She has collected hundreds of books of all genres through the years, and admits she seldom parts with them. Her wish is that future generations to come will continue to embrace her favorite passion. The process of updating her short stories from past decades has been an ambition and genuine joy. She is very excited to be sharing these stories of fiction for readers both young and young at heart.

Written Stephanie Anne Messina

Cover Illustration by Donna Collins

These are recollections from my childhood which still remain very vivid in my mind. My father was one of the central landowners in our valley and spending time on the ranch took up a great portion of my summer vacation.The orchard which adjoins my parents house and my grandmothers house still allows ample space to stroll and reminisce. I am happy to share a piece of that experience with you.

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