About the Author

Paul Fleisher is the author of more than three dozen books for young people and educators. His books for young people cover a variety of science, ecology and natural history subjects. He has also written several widely-used classroom activity books on thinking games, social activism and creative writing, as well as educational software and numerous essays.

Paul currently serves as assistant to the director of the Richmond Peace Education Center. Previously, he taught gifted elementary and middle school students in the Richmond, Virginia Public Schools for almost 30 years. During that time, he helped develop numerous interdisciplinary instructional units on topics including Humor, Justice, Engineering and Design and The Art and Science of Music. Paul also spent five years as adjunct professor in the school of education at Virginia Commonwealth Universit, and as an writing instructor in the University of Richmond's School of Continuing Studies.

Paul was in the vanguard of teaching educational technology in Richmond Public Schools, teaching computer programming and web design to his students. He has led many workshops on team-building, thinking games, teaching writing and other topics at educational conferences.Paul remains an activist for peace and social justice. He has served terms on the boards of directors of the Richmond Peace Education Center, the Virginia Forum and the Virginia Museum of Natural History and the ACLU of Virginia, as well as the Virginia Education Association's Fitz Turner Commission for Human and Civil Rights.

In 1988 Paul received the Virginia Education Association Award for Peace and International Relations. In 1999 he was awarded the Thomas Jefferson Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Natural Science Education.

It is Paul's good fortune to be married to fellow educator Debra Sims Fleisher. Paul spends his spare time gardening, cooking, reading, swimming, and playing music in a community gamelan ensemble.

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