Carol Foote is a writer and photographer. The oldest of three children, she was born in Los Angeles and grew up in a small house in Santa Monica canyon, collecting tadpoles from the stream across the road, chasing butterflies in the vacant lots, and exploring the big, rambling estates that had occupied the canyon for years.

She always wanted to be a writer and started her first story, a horse story, in third grade, writing in pencil in a spiral notebook.

The first book Carol remembers falling love with is Mary Poppins. She loved the idea of magic in everyday life and still does (imagine floating up to the ceiling!). She spent much of her childhood looking for magic and expecting it at any moment.

After graduating from UC Berkeley in history, she completed a masters degree in history and a masters of journalism from UCLA. Carol has worked as a babysitter, an accounting office clerk, a receptionist, a waitress, a teacher – teaching science news writing and photojournalism at UC Santa Cruz, a newspaper reporter, a photographer, and a freelance science writer. Her work has appeared in Time, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and popular science magazines.

Carol loves to travel and has been to every continent except Australia, photographing orangutans in Borneo, penguins in the Antarctic, and polar bears in Canada.

Besides writing, photography, and travel, she loves history, science, reading, and taking her dog for long walks in the hills near her home. She lives near Santa Cruz, California, with her husband, two cats, and their own trouble dog, Lily, an energetic golden retriever — though Lily is not nearly as much trouble as Tucker!

She and her husband have long been supporters of conservation efforts, particularly through Wildlife Conservation Network, which partners with Working Dogs for Conservation.

Carol writes to explore ideas that move or fascinate her and to share her love for the world and everything in it. She loves writing for kids because their minds are open to exploring, learning and imagining. TROUBLE DOG, a Junior Library Guild selection, is her first picture book.