Fran Hodgkins was born in Massachusetts, the youngest of four children. As a child she loved animals and books -- especially books! The neighborhood branch library was one of her favorite haunts, and she spent hours there, reading her way through the children's collection. "I loved to read, and I found out during middle school that I loved to write just as much." With the encouragement of two teachers, she decided to study journalism, although she did not have the drive to be a reporter that many of her classmates had. "Yet in a way, journalism was the perfect choice for me, because I was terribly shy. Having to interview people for class assignments was the motivation I needed -- get over your shyness or fail the class!"Not long after graduation, she got a job working for educational publisher Silver Burdett Ginn. There she learned a great deal about writing for children as she read excellent examples of children's literature that were used in the company's basal reading program. During this time, she published her first article for children, a piece about the Burgess Shale fossils for The Dolphin Log.

Since then, Fran has written more than 20 books for young readers. This fall, The Secret Galaxy will be published by Tilbury House Publishers, and in Spring 2015, Little Loon will come our from Down East Books.