Lee Wardlaw (born 20 November 1955) is the author of several

children's books A child (plural, : children) is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers ...

, such as '' 101 Ways to Bug Your Teacher'', '' 101 Ways to Bug Your Parents'', and ''See You In September''. In 2015, Wardlaw published ''Won Ton and Chopstick'' with illustrator Eugene Yelchin, a sequel to their '' Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku''.

Early life

Lee was born in Salina,

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

on November 20, 1955. Raised in Santa Barbara,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, she attended Coldsprings Elementary school,

Santa Barbara High School Santa Barbara Senior High School, "Home of the Dons," is situated on a sprawling campus in Santa Barbara, California in the Santa Barbara Unified School District. Among the oldest high schools in California and one of five high schools in the Dis ...

, and Santa Barbara Junior High School. During that period of time, her parents had a divorce and her house was burned down by a

firestorm A firestorm is a conflagration which attains such intensity that it creates and sustains its own wind system. It is most commonly a natural phenomenon, created during some of the largest bushfires and wildfires. Although the term has been used ...

. She then graduated from California Polytechnic State University with honors and a bachelor's degree in

Education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

. After graduation, she started her teaching career as an Elementary teacher for five years. She then decided to become an

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

because

"I'm a storyteller. For years, people have joked that if you ask my dad what time it is, he'll tell you how to build a watch. I have to embellish! I have to tell you all the who's and what's and how's and why's. And I have to do it with arm gestures and silly voices and weird faces. I also became a writer because I love to read. The elementary school I went to didn't have a library. So, in second grade, after I finished reading all the books we had at home, and all the books at school in my teacher's classroom, I was so desperate to read something else, that I wrote my own book. I had so much fun writing that first book, that I kept on writing after that."

She started writing when she was seven and tried to get her first book published at nineteen but was rejected multiple times until she was thirty.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wardlaw, Lee American children's writers 1955 births Living people