Trisha Speed Shaskan was born and raised in Winona, Minnesota, where she waterskied on the Mississippi River, played basketball, and skateboarded. She has written more than forty books for children and taught creative writing to children and teens. Trisha received a 2012 Minnesota State Artist's Initiative Grant. She won the 2009 McKnight Artist Fellowship for Writers, Loft Award in Children's Literature/Older Children. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband, Stephen Shaskan, who is a children's book author and illustrator.
"TWO STAR RATING! If You Were a Times Sign is a book that I recommend highly for children in grades 6 and below. One of 12 in the Picture Window Books Math Fun series prepared with advice from Stuart Farm, M. Ed., this sturdy book contains a simple index, a glossary, and a references list. The facing-page illustrations in water color and gouache with large print are relevant and unbiased, using animal characters. The book will instruct readers about multiplication. The text is factual and terse, and closes with a hands-on discovery that multiplication is the addition of equal groups. Although aimed at preschoolers, the book can hold the adult reader's interest as well.-- ""Science Books & Films"""