The Poof Academy: Fairy Tales

Biographie de Callie Raab

I was born in Minnesota and spent my childhood in the Twin Cities. Especially vivid are my memories of winter-of snowball fights and ice skating on a frozen tennis court and sledding down the steep slope of College Park. When my parents divorced, my mom, brother, and I moved to sunny California, where I went to high school and college, then taught at Seven Hills School. It had once been a ranch, so my first classroom was in a converted barn.
We had cats and chickens and a peacock underfoot-and cows in our backyard. I loved making board and card games for my students to teach them numbers and letters. One day I was in a store, buying books for my class, and I read Where the Wild Things Are. That was the moment I knew I wanted to write and illustrate children's books. But later, when I tried to make up a story, my mind went blank. From this experience, I learned an important lesson about believing in yourself.
I didn't know that, in my future, I would have a goddaughter named Arielle and a godson named Michael who would inspire me to write over seventy-five stories! I also learned a lesson about working hard at what you love, because, though eventually, the stories came easily to me, it took me time to polish them, as well as lots of practice to become an illustrator. I hope you too will discover what it is you most want to do-and won't give up until you have!