Though she was born in Chicago, IL (May 3, 1950), Sheri (Cooper) Sinykin grew up in Sacramento, CA, as the eldest of four children.  Her father was an optometrist; her mother was a music and special education teacher.  Ever since she was in third grade, she wanted to write children’s books, but her career path took a different course after she graduated from Stanford University with a B.A. in Communications-Journalism in 1972.  After having worked as a newspaper reporter, a hospital public relations director, and as the assistant executive director of a convention and visitors bureau, she decided to devote her energies full time to raising sons Aaron, Rudi, and Joshua, and to writing books for children.  She became active in the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, serving for six years as Wisconsin regional advisor.  In 1995, SCBWI awarded her its Member of the Year Award for service to the organization.  After a decade of personal and professional losses, including a significant period of writer's block and her mother's diagnosis of Stage 4B endometrial cancer, she earned her MFA in Writing for Children from Vermont College in 2003, studying with mentors Louise Hawes, Ron Koertge, Carolyn Coman, and Marion Dane Bauer.  Her critical thesis was entitled, "Good Grief: Making Death and Bereavement Authentic for Middle Grade Readers."  While in the Program, she was challenged to write about what terrifies her and to trust her characters to reveal the plot.  GIVING UP THE GHOST (Peachtree, 2007) is her first creative result.

As a child, her interests included ballet, reading, writing, traveling, and learning to speak foreign languages, especially Spanish.  During her senior year of college, she rode on Stanford’s Rose Bowl float and danced during the half-time show as one of five pompon “dollies.”  Looking back, she says it’s probably the most “out of character thing” she’s ever done in her life.  She also was one of twenty-five students selected nationally for a summer magazine internship experience in New York City, where she worked at COSMOPOLITAN and SALES MANAGEMENT.

 Thanks to her three sons, her interests grew to include gymnastics, volleyball, and pole vault, which she watched from the edge of her seat in the stands.  Her books are often “inspired or suggested by real life, but made more exciting by research and imagination.”  She collected 156 rejection letters before her first novel, SHRIMPBOAT AND GYM BAGS--about boys’ gymnastics-- was published by Atheneum in 1990.  “In the long run,” she tells readers, “perseverance is much more important than raw talent.”  

In addition to her eight books for The Magic Attic Club, she also authored two children’s books about eating disorders COME OUT, COME OUT, WHEREVER YOU ARE!  and APART AT THE SEAMS (Hazelden Educational Materials, now OP); and the following novels for readers ages 8-12: 

 Josh, Rudi, and Aaron (ages 4, 6 & 9)

With sons Aaron, Rudi, and Josh now starting their professional and married lives, Sheri Sinykin lives with her husband, Daniel, and Oso and Joya--their Tonkinese cats--in Madison, Wisconsin and in Sun Lakes, Arizona.  Their third cat, Zuli, now lives in Colorado.  In her spare time, she enjoys yoga and mindfulness meditation, reading, walking, throwing pottery on a wheel, going to the theater, and collecting perfume bottles and dolls from foreign countries. In July, 2007, she became a first-time grandmother, with the birth of Aaron's son.

More biographical information, including an "Autobiography Feature," with childhood photos, may be found in Something About the Author, Volume 142 (pages 178-194).  

Joya, Zuli (short for Mi Cielo Azul) & Oso

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