MARY QUATTLEBAUM loved playing pirates, reading ghost stories, and planting seeds in the family garden when she was a kid. And pirates, ghosts, and a garden are all featured in her books: Pirate vs. Pirate , Jo MacDonald Had a Garden , The Hungry Ghost of Rue Orleans , and Jackson Jones and the Curse of the Outlaw Rose . Her nonfiction picture books include Mighty Mole and Super Soil . Quattlebaum is the author of 20 award-winning children's picture books, books of poetry, chapter books, and novels, and a popular presenter at schools and conferences. She teaches in the Vermont College MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults and at the Writer's Center in Bethesda, Maryland. She regularly writes for KidsPost and reviews children's books for the Washington Post and Washington Parent . Her work appears frequently in children's magazines such as Cricket , Spider , Ladybug,Highlights , and Boys' Life .