Katie Pasek was inspired to write Junior’s New Home after seeing Junior interact with students in her mom’s second grade classroom and the kids’ positive reactions to Junior’s adventures. It was more challenging than she expected, though, to actually photograph Junior.

Katie was inspired to write Sure-foot Sam in Jeopardy from a game her dad created. Every Sunday morning during brunch, her dad would create a seemly impossible situation and list the items the hero had at his disposal, then ask Katie and her brother to each come up with a possible solution.

Katie is a senior legal writer for Thomson Reuters' Westlaw Today. She had a short story, titled “The Grate Mall Caper,” published in The Lamp-Post magazine and was also published in the Rostrum, the magazine for the National Forensic League. She currently lives in Minnesota with her husband and Junior.