Frances Schoonmaker is the award-winning author of The Last Crystal Trilogy (Auctus Publishers 2018, 2019) and Sid Johnson and the Phantom Slave Stealer (Auctus Publishers, 2022) for middle grade/young adult readers. Native of Oklahoma, Schoonmaker is Professor Emerita of Teachers College, Columbia University in New York where she co-directed the graduate-level teacher preparation program in elementary and middle school education. The program had a strong emphasis on literature and storytelling. Schoonmaker has taught, lectured, and consulted nationally and internationally. She sees writing for children as the natural extension of a career devoted to children as a teacher and teacher educator. She divides her time between the family home in Baltimore, MD, and Stratford-upon-Avon in England.