Meet Rebecca
I am an award-winning children’s author and science writer. I grew up playing in the woods, earned a doctorate in the life sciences, and worked in laboratories as a plant biologist. Then I escaped from the lab and wrote my first book for kids (Top 50 Reasons to Care About Polar Bears). To date I have published one hundred books, all for young readers, nearly all about science and nature. I have also written many articles, some for kids and some for adults.
I write from my home in State College, Pennsylvania, where my husband and I raised our three daughters, and where I now bake bread, grow gardens, wrangle chickens, and walk in the woods with my dog.
Longer Bio
I am the award-winning author of 100 books for children. My titles include picture books like Wonder Wings, Rise to the Sky, and Plants Can’t Sit Still; middle-grade nonfiction like The Monarchs Are Missing and When Plants Attack; and YA nonfiction like Where Have All the Birds Gone? and A Deathly Compendium of Poisonous Plants.
My titles have received numerous starred reviews, appeared on many “Best of” lists, and been awarded a Riverby Award for Natural History Writing, a Green Prize for Sustainable Literature, and a Green Earth Book Honor.
I started my career as a scientist, researched how plant roots sense their environment, earned a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin, and worked at Penn State University as a postdoctoral fellow. Along the way, I took coursework in my side interest: understanding how children learn science.
Instead of becoming a professor or research scientist, I focused my career on sharing my curiosity about science and nature with young readers. I became a children’s science writer.
I belong to the National Association of Science Writers, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and The Poet’s Garage, a collective of professional children’s poets. I am represented by Sarah Stephens at Red Fox Literary.
I live in State College, Pennsylvania, where my husband—jazz composer and arranger Rick Hirsch—and I raised our three daughters, and where I now grow gardens, wrangle chickens, bake bread, and take long walks in the woods with my dog. When I’m not working on my newest book, I visit schools, sharing stories of scientific discovery and teaching the craft of nonfiction writing.
The front yard of my childhood home. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania with nature right outside my door.
Here I am on a hike with my husband, Rick.
Raising my daughters reconnected me with children’s books. This photo of them was taken around the time I published my first book.
Now my daughters are all grown up.