Ms. Sigafus grew up in a little yellow house on a rather quiet corner in a small suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota. She was a middle sister — too old for this, and too young for that. Sound familiar? Her childhood hobbies included making snow angels and soaring down very steep hills on a wooden toboggan.

But her favorite hobby was writing poetry. She would wander around the house rhyming words and driving her siblings crazy until one day they locked her in the closet, where she developed a case of agoraphobia, or a fear of big places. (To this day, Ms. Sigafus will only visit small classrooms.)

When her sisters finally let her out of the closet, Ms. Sigafus had quite a collection of poetry. She decided to learn to play the guitar and put her poems to music. Ms. Sigafus soon discovered that she loved playing music as much as writing!

She started putting on backyard concerts, flinging a large bed sheet over the clothesline for a stage curtain. Before long, she was attracting crowds from as far away as Stenson Boulevard. She charged a 5-cent admission fee, which she later used to pay for college.

After college, Ms. Sigafus traveled around the country performing her songs for lots of people. She finally got married and began a family of her own. She had to put her writing on hold for the time being.

When Ms. Sigafus finally returned to writing, she couldn’t think of anything to write about. Luckily, that all changed one day when she received a curious telephone call.

"Will you come and teach music at our school?" the principal asked.

"Er . . . I guess so," Ms. Sigafus replied. "Do you have any small classrooms?"

Ms. Sigafus reported to the principal’s office the very next morning to begin her new job. She quickly discovered that she loved teaching as much as she loved music and writing! But that’s not the end of the story!

She was so inspired by several of her students that she went home and began writing a series of books called The Little Maestro Mysteries! Her first book entitled The Case of Beethoven’s Bandit is scheduled for release in September, 2006.

P.S. Ms. Sigafus likes to play the cello, which often accompanies her on book tours!