I am the published author of a series of children’s books, four of which are currently available on amazon.com and other sources:
Dirkle Smat Inside Mount Flatbottom
Dirkle Smat and the Flying Statue
Dirkle Smat and the Viking Shield
Dirkle Smat Meets a Time Traveler
Come along with me as I research and write my next project – a non-fiction book intended to tell the interesting story of how our states got their jigsaw puzzle shapes. It turns out that when you look into the reason for those borders, you accidentally learn a little American History!
UPDATE: The book is finished! Look for “Our States Have Crazy Shapes” on amazon.com and Blue Spectrum Books. If you’ve every been curious about why the Upper Peninsula is a part of Michigan instead of Wisconsin, it turns out the answer is pretty quirky and involves Toledo, OH. Why does Missouri have a bootheel? Because a 23 year old man rode to Washington D.C. on his horse and lobbied for it. How did Minnesota end up with a topknot on it’s northern border, and what happened to the state called Franklin? All of these and much more in this book written for all ages.
Lynn Garthwaite, Author 
HI Lynn, I think that your new book sounds sooooo interesting even for adults. I would love to buy a copy when it is published. Kudos to you for all of your creative efforts. Dianne Numelin
Thanks Dianne. It’ll be awhile until this hits the book stores (I probably need to finish writing it first) but can’t you totally picture Gina and Lewis reading this? We could have some interesting family conversations about some of this stuff.
I am reading your articles about how the states got their shapes. Really interesting!