Elly Berke

Elly Berke has always loved children's literature and the power of asking good questions. Her earliest influence was Barbara Cooney whom she met in 1991 at a book signing in Damariscotta, Maine. The characters in this story are inspired by people she has met on her professional journey through public education: leading programs at New York's Lower East Side Tenement Museum, teaching ESL in bilingual schools, and studying Arts in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Outside of writing and teaching in Somerville, MA, she is a professional actor involved in many projects around New England. She is a proud 2025 - 2026 recipient of a grant to study global education through Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms in Uruguay. Vamo la celeste! She is the proud granddaughter of an immigrant and the daughter of Rosie and Jerry who always read out loud to her when she was little and did great voices.