About Terri

Terri Michels is the author of Simon of Cyrene and the Legend of the Easter Egg, a picture book, as well as 60 nonfiction books for children, including Ellis Island, Life in the Time of Susan B. Anthony and the Women’s Rights Movement, Manners on the Telephone, and The City Mayor. She is also a photographer, focusing on nature, who has recently shown her work in several exhibits. As author, nurse, and photographer, Terri frequently speaks at schools and conferences about research, photography, and the writer’s life.

When I was a little girl there were two things that were very special to me: paper and books. I had a drawer full of notebooks, boxes of stationery, and lots of diaries. My bookcases were (and still are) full of Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, and Anne Frank. 

In eighth grade, my English teacher presented my class with a challenge: read 1,000 books by the time we graduated from high school. I took the challenge and began to read even more than I had been reading. I read Charlotte’s Web, To Kill a Mockingbird, Swiss Family Robinson, and every mystery in my school’s library. I read under the covers at night, in the camper when we went on vacation, and, my favorite place of all, in a big overstuffed chair.

When I was a teenager, I went to Good Counsel Academy, an all-girl Catholic high school. The Sisters I had for English were great teachers. They expected all assignments written using proper grammar and encouraged creative writing. I was not always happy with all those assignments but now I realize it was good practice for the books I write today. 

I still love paper and books. I still have a drawer full of paper and bookcases full of books. I write and read every day, not only because it’s my job, but because it makes me happy.