Lucas, Eileen: - Eileen (O'Donnell) Lucas grew up in Chicago, spent a semester in college in Ireland, and graduated from Western Illinois University. She lived near Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, for over 20 years, where her sons Travis and Brendan were born. She worked as a freelance writer and an elementary and middle school teacher during these years. She now lives in Florida, where she loves to go to the beach and listen to Jimmy Buffett music. She also loves to visit her trailer in the woods in central Wisconsin, where she takes care of her garden and hikes in the pines. Besides nonfiction children's books, she writes for an educational software publishing company in Wisconsin.