Susan M. J. Suriano taught music, visual arts, marketing, literacy, and library. Her career encompassed schools in five Ontario Boards of Education in Canada and three private schools (one in Florida). She has educated students of all ages from junior kindergarten to grade twelve. While a specialty teacher she had the unique opportunity to observe the problems children have; making friends and fitting-in. When planning lessons to address these problems she found a scarcity of resources. The TOO series was created to help fill this void. These books use identifiable literary strategies in the text and literary clues in the illustrations. This enables the educator to plan lessons where literacy and social skills can be taught concurrently. After retiring from teaching, Susan expanded her sources of inspiration to include family life. Her grandchildren wanted to be and are the characters in the next picture book ,Too Many Forts. Susan's daughter, Shari, a teacher, provides the curriculum knowledge to keep her books current. Her son, Patrick, a college professor of design, advises on illustration trends. Her husband, Larry, a retired entrepreneur, encourages and supports the free time needed for writing and illustrating.
