Everything you ever wanted to know about an author!

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When I was a kid I lived on the Nebraska prairie. I had three little brothers and a beautiful horse named Cleo. Cleo was a pure black Arabian with a white star in the middle of her forehead. My horse and I spent a lot of time together, escaping from my brothers. She didn't say much, of course, but she could run like the wind.

Now I live on a prairie (sort of) in Northern California, I still ride a beautiful horse, and I still have three little brothers, though now they're all bigger than I am.
Anyway, back in Nebraska, I decided to ride race horses like a real jockey. That didn't work out. I decided to be a librarian. That didn't work out either. I decided to be an archaeologist. That DID work out, but not the way I expected. I'm a nonfiction writer, which means I dig up the truth. It's not exactly like digging up old bones and pieces of pottery, but it's close. I travel all over the world, snoop around like a detective, find old newspapers and photographs, read old letters and diaries, dig up the facts. Then I put those facts in the biographies I write.
Authors get to meet the most fascinating people! I met the great great grandson of Noah Webster. I met the family of the first Native American woman doctor, and a leader of her tribe wrote the foreword for NATIVE AMERICAN DOCTOR. I met the great great great granddaughter of Biddy Mason, and she wrote the foreword for WITH OPEN HANDS. I've met many more famous family members (and hope to meet you, too!).

Do you know who built the first wooden clock in America? Do you know who wrote the first American dictionary? Do you know how a woman who was a slave in Mississippi became a very rich woman in California? Do you know what happened to the first Native American woman who became a doctor? Do you know what African American man helped to discover the North Pole? (and what happened to him after that?)

You can find the answers to these questions, and lots more exciting facts and people and adventures in my books.
There's more! When I'm not reading or writing or riding or dancing or acting or singing, I study Russian. My husband and I have been to Russia many times and have collected thousands of objects which might otherwise have disappeared. We think these items express the spirit and achievement of Soviet society. Recently we donated them all to be used for academic research and guess what? There's now a Ferris Collection! Please visit the Ferris Collection to learn more.
The great folks who set up the Russian Perestroika poster exhibition at the Craft & Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles. I'm in the picture somewhere.
The exhibition features some of 240 original posters painted during Gorbachev's era, when artists began to express what they really thought!
These are Russian "nesting" dolls of famous Russian leaders. Many of them were pretty scary. Do you know any of their names?
Back at the Folk Art Museum to see heads on the floor. This cabinet above contains various porcelain busts of Stalin and other Soviet figures, which Tom and I collected from 1970 to 2000. And this final image is of one of the many beautiful Russian Orthodox churches in winter. Enchanting, no?

Here's a picture of my horse now. His name is Pamyat, which means "memory" in Russian.
He's a big guy, a rescue horse who had a difficult childhood and was so traumatized when I first got him that he pulled a concrete block right out of the ground. He refused to load into a trailer, so I walked him from one stable to his new place (fortunately only about five miles). He's possibly a warm blood, possibly some thoroughbred, definitely a sweetheart now. Beautiful red coat. He is old, very old, almost thirty horse years old.
And here's my Scottie dog. Her name is Nasha, which is also Russian, and means "ours." Actually, Nasha is our third Scottie. Our first Scottie came from Leningrad, in the Soviet Union, and we named her Neva, for the Neva River there. Our dear friend who gave Neva to us is the man on whom my book THE LAST MOUSE IN LENINGRAD is based. He survived the Siege of Leningrad, which began when he was ten years old. THE LAST MOUSE will be published soon. Look for it!
And now I'd love to meet you. I was a teacher in Los Angeles for almost thirty years, and I still teach when I visit schools and talk about the people in my books.

Lucky me, I've taught all over the world! Perhaps I'll visit your school this year! Look for the person lugging a buffalo (small), log (large), candle, compass, quill pen, sunbonnet, and much, much more. In fact, I may need your help in bringing it all in.

All contents © Jeri Chase Ferris 2012. To contact Jeri please email jchaseferris@sbcglobal.net
Website design  Dr. Mira Reisberg www.mirareisberg.com • www.herosartjourney.com • www.picturebookacademy.com