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On December 21, 1972, my dad, 

the slot pilot with the USAF Thunderbirds, 

slammed into the Nevada earth

in a borrowed F-4. 

The crew chief in the back seat on the final flight of his Thunderbird tour 

was killed with him. 

My dad was 30 years old; 

I was 3 1/2. 

The only memory I own of my dad 

are of his hands typing.  

It wasn't until I was writing a book about him that my friend MJ pointed out 

what should've been obvious: 

my only memory is of 

my dad typing. 

Writing. 

What you do, Lisa.

  I wrote my first education book 

about the life cycle of spiders, 

completed in January 2003. 

After the ISBN had been assigned to the book but before it was published, 

the publisher went bankrupt.  

It's been on Amazon.com since then...

but has never existed in print!

**BOOK SIGNING at 

Content Bookstore, Northfield, MN ** 

* McKnight Artist Fellowship in Children's Literature/Older Children

Honorable Mention TWICE

* Minnesota Book Awards judge or facilitator for several years 

* MNSCBWI Mentoree 

* Finalist in Nonfiction six times, 

The Loft Mentor Series 

* Minnesota State Arts Board grant recipient; allowed me to travel 

to Africa for research 

* Shabo Award participant with 

Marion Dane Bauer; The Loft 

* One of 7 finalists in the Memorists Collective Memoir Contest; MySpace 

* Selected for limited enrollment in "Write That Book" with Cheri Register; The Loft 

* Individual Artist Grant, Southwest Minnesota Arts and Humanities Council 

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

In the Wilderness by Kim Barnes

All the Light We Cannot See 

by Anthony Doerr
House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Toot and Puddle (#1) by Holly Hobbie

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
The Poisonwood Bible 

by Barbara Kingsolver

America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States

 by Erica Lee

The Color of Water by James McBride

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (first read in 7th grade)

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks 

by Rebecca Skloot

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

Educated by Tara Westover

I've lived in México, Italy, and Japan; 

I've traveled to 23 countries 

and over 30 states;
I LOVE to meet new people, experience new cultures, and dine on ethnic food! 

This photo is from my 50th birthday trip to Scotland!

My first-ever book signing 

at the Book Warehouse 

in Medford, Minnesota, 

on October 11, 2008. 

I sold more of 

The Story of the Minnesota Wild 

on this day than I did at a 

Wild home hockey game!

(Sadly, the book is now out of print.)