ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 

     Robin Barnett Thomas was born in Avalon just outside of Pittsburgh, Pa. in 1955. She was one of 6 children born to Harvey and Wilma Barnett.   Robin has raised 4 children of her own and she knows  the importance of reading.  While traveling to different parts of the United States with her husband Bill in the 101st Airborne, she always made sure no matter where they lived, there were always no less than two bookshelves full of books. Most were purchased in second hand stores and yard sales.  They were still BOOKS. 

     Her two favorite stories are "Wizard of Oz" and "The Never Ending Story."  Both stories deal with dreams, memories, reading and never ending love.  When she lost her husband at the early age of 28, it hit her that she had to raise her children herself.  Working two jobs most of the time to make ends meet, the family always had a quiet time together that to them meant reading books. Robin read to them nightly until at least one of her children were able to read and take over a story or two themselves.  To her this was the most important hour of the day. Many times they would take turns reading the books that her children had picked out.  Now she is the proud grandmother of 4 grandbabies and again she makes sure that there are books around for them to read.  Whenever they want to read to her, she always makes the time.  One thing Robin will tell you, "Time is precious and so is the mind of a child. You can either help it grow or watch it sink."

    Their lives still consist of one obstacle after another, and together they have always handled them together... she will always believe that the one hour a day they had spent together reading in the early lives of her children is what made them all appreciate the value of knowledge and graduate from high school.  Robin knows that reading has to be interesting to both the reader and the listener.  For that reason she decided to take her real live pets, put their stories in book form and touch the hearts of children with them the same way her children have touched hers.  In her books she features her real life iguana, Jasper George Thomas the First.  Her big brown dog, Sha-Sha, and her Pit Bull, Gator.  Her stories will touch the hearts of the young and old and also will include all the hearts in between.  To Robin a good book is a learning tool and a family who reads together stays together, as she has proven with the closeness of her own family.

 

                                                    July 12,2004