"I've always believed a REAL leader shepherds the present and prepares the future.  Toni, you are one of the true leaders that prepare the rest of us for the future." ~ Rebecca Richardson, Library Media Specialist, Baton Rouge, LA
	Biography Born and raised in Dearborn, Michigan BA English Language and Literature     University of Michigan, Dearborn MA English Language and Literature     University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MLIS Library and Information Science     University of Rhode Island, Kingston 1999 Maine Library Media Specialist    of the Year 2000 Winner of SCBWI Barbara Karlin    Grant for The Sea Chest, published    September 2002 2004 University of Michigan-Dearborn    School of Education Alumnus of the    Year 2008 Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance    Advisory Board Author of children's books and    professional books and articles for teachers     and librarians (see my Publication Vita) Read the full story below

I was an only child for the first ten years of my life, growing up in Dearborn, Michigan. During that time, my closest companions were my Grandma Mae Mackey and books.  I read early and well and lost myself in stories as often as possible.  My mother, Jeanne, gave me the gift of reading. She often took me to the Dearborn Public Library  (at that time, the Bryant Branch was the Main Library) where I imagined many things in front of the beautiful dollhouse on the second floor and between the pages of many books.  When I was eight years old, living in our small ranch house on New York Street, I was lucky enough to have the  built only five blocks away. For a child like me, that was like having Disney World built in my neighborhood. 

When I was ten, my siblings, Karen, David, and Glen, began to arrive and within three years, not only was I no longer an only child, but we were a family of four children. I spent a great deal of time caring for my younger brothers and sister, especially reading to them.  To this day, when I read a Dr. Seuss book aloud to children, I am transported back in time to that Danish modern couch in our living room, surrounded by the three of them.

As a teenager, I started my writing career as a poet and an anthologist.  I spent hours at the formica kitchen table, copying out poems in longhand into spiral bound notebooks.  I selected huge stacks of books each week at the library, and always, several volumes of poetry.  I read these poetry books and marked my favorites with scraps of paper.  Then, after dinner, when my homework was finished, I would sit at the table and copy out the poems I loved. 

That is how I learned to write.  I read and re-read and listened to the words I was reading in my mind.  Then I copied them out and listened to them again.  I learned to write poetry in that long apprenticeship. Years later, when I was working my way through college, I began to publish my poetry in the college literary magazines, and I began to think of myself as a real writer.  Since then, I have always written, in one way or another, publishing here and there. 

Also as a teenager, I started my library career.  Again, there was a long apprenticeship.  I worked first as a "page" shelving books at the Dearborn Public Library, in that old stone building with the huge dollhouse outside the children’s room.  At 18, I took my first full time job as a library clerk.  From there, I progressed through a variety of paraprofessional positions, learning along the way how much I still loved the children’s department.

Ready or Not, Dawdle Duckling debuted in 2005, my fourth Dial picture book.  Once again, Margaret Spengler has brought the charming Dawdle to life, again in the company of his friends, Frog, Fish, and Turtle.  When Dawdle plays hide-and-seek with Mama Duck and his siblings, his dawdling nature gets in the way until he turns to his friends for help!

Our Librarian Won't Tell Us ANYTHING! is my latest children's book, published in 2006.  Illustrator Sachiko Yoshikawa has painted charming illustrations of the wise and funny librarian who won't tell Robert or Carmen ANYTHING--but who will teach them to do anything to become proficient in the library media center.

Because I am passionate about using literature as a springboard throughout the curriculum, I was delighted to write a book for the Author and YOU series at Libraries Unlimited. Mine is cleverly titled Toni Buzzeo and YOU and includes much more biographical information as well as standards-based reading, writing, social studies, and science connections for my children's books.

Another of my joys is sharing quality children's literature with students through Reader's Theater.  I publish a script in each issue of Library Sparks magazine.  In addition, a set of ten RT scripts with an author interview and standards-based curriculim activities are published in Read! Perform! Learn! Ten Reader's Theater Projects for Literacy Enhancement by Upstart Books.

In addition, I have published three professional books for Linworth Publishers for library media specialists and teachers. Collaborating to Meet Literacy Standards: Teacher/Librarian Partnerships for K-2, Collaborating to Meet Standards: Teacher/Librarian Partnerships for K-6  and Collaborating to Meet Standards: Teacher/Librarian Partnerships for 7-12 are available for purchase.  Each volume includes three meaty chapters devoted to the history of collaboration and practical implementation ideas as well as a host of fully detailed collaborative instructional units.  The remainder of my time is devoted to writing books for children, so that someday my books will be lined up in the children’s libraries that have nurtured me so much all of my life.

1999 saw the publication of my first book, Terrific Connections with Authors, Illustrators, and Storytellers: Real Space and Virtual Links from Libraries Unlimited.  My co-author, Jane Kurtz, and I wrote the book because we knew, from our personal experiences and from the stories of our friends, that author, illustrator, and storyteller visits to libraries and schools are sometimes extraordinary and sometimes dismal failures.  We wanted to correct that by creating a book that would show all of the players--authors, illustrators, storytellers, librarians, and teachers--how to make the very best connections between kids and bookpeople, whether in person or in cyberspace. 

In 2002, Jane and I published 35 Best Books For Teaching  U.S. Regions  with Scholastic Professional, a book that explores teaching the seven U.S. regions through rich and varied children's literature.

I was named Maine Library Media Specialist of the Year in May 1999 by the Maine Association of School Libraries, a tremendous honor and a long time goal of mine.  I continue my work as a children’s librarian, although I am no longer employed in a school.  I serve on the Executive Board of the Maine Association of School Libraries and volunteer as a collaborating library media specialist in my local school here in Buxton, Maine.  I also speak across the country in schools, at library, reading and writing conferences, and in district and regional trainings for teachers and librarians.  As you see, I continue to write, too!

You can also learn more about me and my writing around the web.  Please consider stopping by these online interviews with me!