Joan Axelrod-Contrada is the author of more than 15 books for children. Joan particularly likes to write books about the weird and wacky.As a child, Joan hated dolls but loved animals. She carried around a mud turtle in her doll carriage. These days, she lives in western Massachusetts with her husband, Fred, also a writer. They have a son and daughter, as well as a mixed-breed dog named Bandit. Joan is also a playwright and the founder of Appetite for Mystery, a dinner theater company that specializes in murder mysteries.