When I was young, I voraciously read my way through the children's book collection at my local library, and then, with the required permission note from my mother, I moved on to the adult collection.  My love of reading has never waned.

   I didn't choose a career until ten years after college graduation.  By that time I was married, the mother of three, and I knew I wanted to combine my love of children and my love of books.  I received an M.L.S. degree from Rutgers University in New Jersey.

   After my degree, I worked part-time for four years as a bibliographer and book reviewer for The Elementary School Library Collection, a yearly publication of the Bro-Dart Foundation.  During this time my paperback bibliography for children’s librarians was published.  In 1977, I left Bro-Dart, and for the next eighteen years I was an elementary school media specialist in New Jersey.

   As a school librarian, I learned about children's reading interests and abilities through giving book talks, storytelling, and teaching.  All of this sparked my writer's imagination.  Yes, I would think, perhaps I could write a noodlehead tale like the ones the primary graders loved to hear. Since grade school I have enjoyed constructing stories and poetry.  My library work expanded my writing interests.

   A library degree program and the subsequent career provide two great benefits for a children's writer: a background in children’s literature, and the chance to stay current with children lives and reading interests.

   The drawback is that the life of an elementary school librarian is an exhausting job with book review reading, class preparations, and book order decisions all saved for homework.  It leaves little time for serious newspaper reading, never mind writing.  Because I wanted to become a full-time writer, I took an early retirement in June of 1995.  In 1999, Spider and Boys' Quest magazines published my poetry.  As of January, 2001, there are stories and more poetry forthcoming 
in Boys' Quest, Cricket, Highlights, Hopscotch, and Turtle magazines.

Gale Sypher Jacob is the author of a publication for library professionals:
Independent Reading Grades One Through Three: An Annotated Bibliography with Reading Levels.