Paige Persnickety’s Purr-fect Pet

Paige Persnickety's Purr-fect Pet is Lisa Mallen's third published children's book. Her first published picture book was Elton the Elf and her second published book, a chapter book was Joining Forces with Glory. All three books are now updated and republished by BookBaby. Lisa has also written articles for national and local newspapers, magazines and guidebooks. Lisa's is a member of the Society of Children's Bookwriters and Illustrators (SCBWI), and Author's Guild. She has done numerous Book Readings & Author Visits at schools, libraries, and events across the country. Lisa was born on September 19, 1955 in Ft. Campbell, KY and grew up as an "Army Brat," a title affectionately given to children of military service members. Along with her dad, a U.S. Army officer and her mother and 2 younger brothers, they were stationed in KY, TN. GA, CA, Italy, Germany, MO, FL, OK, KS, & VA. Three separate times they experienced "hardship tours," when her dad spent one to one and a half years in Korea, Vietnam Nam, and Laos. She established her own "roots" by reading children's books & writing letters to family & friends. She loved nursery rhymes, Dr. Seuss books, Charlotte's Web, & A Wrinkle in Time. One summer she read the entire Nancy Drew book series. Lisa graduated from Fairfax High School in Fairfax, VA in 1973 and then received a BS degree from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in 1977. Her favorite course at UT was Children's Literature and it planted a seed of desire to write children's books. In 1977 she also married her high school sweetheart, Jerry Mallen. Three children later, Tommy (1981), Cayce (1983) & Tara (1986) her time was devoted to her family. Lisa read constantly to her kids and enjoyed volunteering in their schools. In 1988, withor & illustrator Megan Lloyd came to Tommy's 2nd grade class at Green Ridge Elementary School in Mechanicsburg, PA to show how she illustrated "Farmer Mack Measures His Pig." That was her lightbulb moment! The see that laid dormant since college suddenly sprouted! She vowed to learn and do everything ahead could to get published. Lisa wrote her stories, researched the children's book industry & submitted dozens of manuscripts to publishers. In 1990, Lisa taught preschool while her youngest, Tara attended. As VP of her children's elementary school PTO, in 1991 Lisa organized a visit by her high school classmate friend, Astronaut Pierre Thuot to visit the school district. His space shuttle flights included Atlantis, Endeavour, & Columbia. Lisa's family watched the lift off of the maiden voyage of Endeavour and the return of Columbia at the Kennedy Space Center. That PR work helped her with her own future promotional author events. In 1993, Tara's 1st grade teachers asked Lisa to write a story for their students. She came in weekly to read it while the kids illustrated versions of "The Little Lost Leprechaun," which was bound for each one. In 1994 Lisa was a storyteller in the children's section of a local bookstore with the sole purpose of seeing what books were out there and where there was a need. That was the year R.L. Stine's "Goosebumps" books foreword off the shelves! Lisa thought, "Aha! He found a 'hole' in children's literature and is filling a 'scary' need. She wrote and performed puppet stories for the bookstore & once again organized another astronaut visit to the school's. Between 1996 & 1998, Lisa freelanced for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette & The North Hills New Record in Pittsburgh, PA. In 1999 Lisa freelanced for Beanie Mainia Magazine & The Naperville Sun in Naperville, IL. She was delighted to meet & interview R. L. Stone for an article she wrote for the Naperville Sun. In 2000, her manuscript was chosen out of 800 which became her 1st book, Elton the Elf. The illustrator for this book is Glendie (Martinez) Mallen, Lisa's daughter-in-law. Glendie was born and raised in Cebu, Philippines. Paige Persnickety's Purr-fect Pet is Glendie's first illustrated children's book.