Anne Marie Pace’s mother has claimed that Anne Marie’s first sentence was “please read,” and while Anne Marie doesn’t remember saying that, she certainly remembers spending much of her childhood reading stacks of books from the library and filling manila folders with her own stories and poems. After earning a Bachelor of Arts in English from the College of William and Mary and a Master of Teaching in English Education from the University of Virginia, Anne Marie taught middle and high school English and Language Arts for about five years.

After the birth of her first child, she rediscovered her childhood love of picture books and realized that she wanted to try her hand at creating her own picture book texts. Through the Highlights Foundation and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), she began studying the art and craft of writing picture books.

Her first published books were Scholastic Book Club original paperbacks, followed in 2012 by her first hardcover, Vampirina Ballerina, which was the first book in the four-book series that was adapted by Disney Junior in 2017 into the Emmy-winning animated series Vampirina. Other books include Mouse Calls, illustrated by Erin Kraan, from Beach Lane Books (Simon & Schuster); Groundhug Day (Little, Brown); Busy-Eyed Day (Beach Lane Books); Pigloo (Henry Holt BYR); and Sunny’s Tow Truck Saves The Day (Abrams).

A lifelong resident of Virginia, Anne Marie lives with her husband, two dogs, and three cats, and cherishes visits from her four young adult children.