Marilyn Taylor McDowell has been bringing children and books together for more than twenty-five years, volunteering as a school librarian, a cultural arts chairperson, and a storyteller, and working as a teacher and as the proprietor of a children's bookshop.

Marilyn lives in a farmhouse on the remaining 30 acres of an old farm in North Chittenden, Vermont with her husband, Peter, their yellow lab, Hunter, and their Springer Spaniel, Benjamin. Pearl, an old gray cat, lives here too and is queen of the house. Marilyn and her husband are hoping to build and grow the place into a homestead. Here is where Marilyn finished writing Carolina Harmony, her first novel for children.