Sandy was raised in Ohio by a loving pack of feral readers and storytellers, convinced that life within the pages of books was much more intriguing than real life. Then midcentury real life revealed social and political issues that led to activism, wider reading in nonfiction, and a career in education focused on meeting the needs and rights of all children. After living and working on that career in Wisconsin for many decades, Sandy returned to live in Ohio, now closer to her multi-generational reading family. Retirement includes volunteer work as outreach Holocaust educator, writing and publishing picture books, poetry, and middle grade historical fiction, (SandyBrehlBooks.com), and years of blogging about the power of picture books for every age (Unpacking the Power of Picture Books). Sandy has served as a panelist with Cybils in various categories since 2016, also commenting on thousands of books in many categories on Goodreads. Also on Twitter/X, (@SandyBrehl and @PBWorkshop), FB and Insta (Sandy Brehl). Asking me to name a favorite genre in kidlit is unfair, but my heart responds warmly to artful language and vivid visual narratives, (even when generated by text) in any genre.