Nancy Bo Flood

Nancy Bo Flood writes and teaches on the Navajo Nation where she hikes, bikes, and attends local rodeos. She is the author of several award-winning books including Warriors in the Crossfire (Colorado Book of the Year), No-Name Baby (Top 100 Books of the Year, Bank Street) and most recently Cowboy Up, Ride the Navajo Rodeo, finalist for Colorado Book of the Year. Nancy says about herself, one thing I have done my whole life is read books. In college I wanted to learn about the brain. How do we remember, why do we forget, why do we want to try new things? Just how does our brain work? So I became a research psychologist and studied brain development at the University of Minnesota and also as a post-doctoral scientist at London University. That might seem like a long way from writing books for kids, but it’s not. Being a scientist taught me to observe, to look more closely, to see what I did not see before. Living and teaching in different countries and cultures taught me that as people, we may look and talk differently, but inside, we want the same things – we want family, friendships, and a place to belong. We want to be successful at what we love to do. And everywhere, we all love a good story. My message: Read anything. You learn interesting stuff, meet interesting people and go places you have never been. Turn off the computer screen. Read every day. As a kid, I kept a stack of comic books under my bed. And a flashlight! Now I keep a stack of books next to my bed. You never know when you need a good book. Nancy Bo Flood