About Tracey West

This is me in first grade, dressed up for the spring pageant.

I grew up in a small town in New Jersey with my mom, dad, brother, and sister. I loved watching cartoons, playing outside with my friends, and reading books. When I was in second grade, my teacher invited her nephew to the class. He was an author, Leonard Kessler, and he wrote children’s books, including Mr. Pine’s Purple House. Something clicked in my head that day, and I realized that maybe one day I could grow up and be an author, too.

In sixth grade, I started a newspaper in my school. I worked on my high school and college newspaper. After college, I thought about working for a newspaper but decided to try to find a way to become a children’s book author. I went to work in children’s publishing in New York City and learned about how books were made, and how authors turned ideas into books.

With my friends Bonnie and Lisa, I wrote a spooky children’s book called Great Uncle Dracula, under the name Jayne Harvey. After that, I went on to write books based on Pokémon cartoon episodes. I also published my first original series, Pixie Tricks, for Scholastic.

For three decades I have written books based on cartoons, video games, and movies, as well as books based on my own ideas. I have written everything from bedtime stories to chapter books for middle graders. These days, I am most known as the author of the Dragon Masters series for Scholastic.

Today, I live in the Catskill mountains with my husband Bill, our dogs, and a whole lot of chickens. Bill and I run the Dragon Wagon, a mobile children’s bookstore serving our rural community. We take the Dragon Wagon to libraries, festivals, and other locations. Every kid who visits our book bus gets to choose one free, brand-new book to keep.

When I’m not writing books or operating the Dragon Wagon, I like to grow vegetables and flowers, walk in the woods, and volunteer in my community. And I still love to read and watch cartoons.