Dr. Joyce Willard Teal is a graduate of Prairie View A & M University. She received a Doctorate in Christian Counseling from Jacksonville Theological Seminary. She was an award-winning teacher who taught school for more than 30 years. She taught in New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Virginia and in Texas from where she retired. Dr. Teal taught English at the college level and reading/language arts to boys and girls in the public schools, primarily at the middle school level. She began writing professionally in 1995 and has had several award-winning poems and books published. Her first book, It's O.K. To Be Different, was written for boys and girls between the ages of nine and fifteen, but has universal appeal and is being read by children as well as adults. In fact, most of her books and poems are targeted for youth between the ages of 11 and 19, though she has also written some adult, non-fiction books.
