Mel StaveBorn in Kansas City, Missouri in 1950, I lived in a suburb of Kansas City, Kansas for 9 years before my family moved to Southern California in 1960. I graduated from Canoga Park High School in 1968 and attended UCLA from 1968 through 1975, receiving a BA degree in Zoology, an MA degree in Biology, and a teaching credential in Life Sciences. I was a research associate at UCLA in environmental biology for 6 years studying desert insects before becoming a high school teacher, full time, at Ulysses S. Grant High School in 1983. I became the coordinator for the Communications Technology Magnet Center at Grant High School in 2004, retiring in that position in 2013. I have had a life-long love of writing and in addition to writing a children's picture book, I have also completed a western comedy screenplay and an action/ suspense novel. I currently live in Calabasas, California with my wife, Karen, and our dog, Sadie. Read More Read Less