Sydnie Kleinhenz grew up writing poetry and playing volleyball. As a benchwarmer, she wrote motivational poetry to encourage the team to victory. Later, she wrote poetry to give a boost to the volleyball, track, and gymnastics teams she coached. After reading countless books to her five sons and helping with years of homework, she felt ready to enter the realm of the professional writer. Poetry and stories by Sydnie Meltzer Kleinhenz have been published in Children's Playmate, Ladybug, Boys' Quest, Highlights and other magazines. She's written non-fiction books (ELEPHANTS, CORAL REEFS, WORK AND PLAY, etc.) and fiction (OTTO'S MESS, THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING MALAMUTE, PLEASED TO EAT YOU, etc.) for a variety of educational and trade publishers including Scholastic, Harcourt, The Wright Group, and Steck-Vaughn. Her "Hello-Math Reader", MORE FOR ME, has been a Scholastic Book Club pick several times. Sydnie eventually switched from the gym to a fourth grade classroom, and wrote when she wasn't grading papers. Sometimes, she's used the byline Charlene Norman because she thinks her folks are great.