I was born in Wheeling WV, but I have also lived in Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, and New York. I have been an educator for 30 years. I earned a bachelor's degree at the University of Kansas and  a master's degree and doctorate in education from the University of Michigan.

At the start of my career, I taught high school students in rural Kansas and Michigan. For the next twenty-seven years I instructed college students from Detroit to New York City how to read and study better.

A lifelong writer (I wrote my first real story in the fifth grade), I won a Hopwood Award for writing at the University of Michigan in 1975. In 1988, my first two children's books were published. Since then, I have published almost two dozen books, all but one for children.

My wife is a retired school librarian. We currently live in southern Arizona, with our four children and our very lively Norfolk Terrier named Bobby. 

If you'd like to know more about me and the books I've written, visit my writer website at www.jamesmdeem.com.