Mary Jo Reinhart

I have always wanted to write children's books. One of my first jobs was working at the library in my hometown of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. In the library, my favorite place was the picture book section of the children's department. I loved seeing the wonderful variety of cover art and titles. When I was returning books to the shelves using the author's last name, I imagined that someday someone would put away books with my name on them.

I went on to get a teaching degree from Chadron State College in Nebraska and sold computers when I settled in the Chicago area. When I began reading picture books to my daughers, I was reminded of my dream to write books of my own. The inspiration for my first book came from a nickname given to me by a special teacher.

When I was in school I was shy and didn't like to receive a lot of attention. In high school, I became more confident and wore a variety of hats. My algebra teacher called me "the Mad Hatter" and now, over twenty years later, Grinelda the Mad Hatter is my first picture book.

I'm working on several new stories and will update this site with any publishing news.

I am available for school visits so please contact me for more information.

Thank you for visiting!

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