About Joan

Joan Barsotti (October 1939-August 2010) lived on an orchard, in a log house, in front of a forest. She wrote and published children’s picture books and was a popular visiting author at elementary schools throughout Northern California. She has been a presenter at California Kindergarten Conferences, Nevada Reading Week Conferences, a California School Library Conference, and many clubs and organizations.

Barsotti received her BA Degree in Child Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. She and her husband Gael  operated an apple orchard and juice mill in Apple Hill® — Camino, California. She was a happy grandmother whose six grandchildren provided unlimited and interesting ideas for her stories and characters.

Barsotti’s books are all based on real events. She saw beauty and excitement in the people and world she knew, and researched that which she did not know. She found writing in itself to be exciting and even relished doing the rewriting!

She loved to share the magic of writing and book publishing with school children, and she visited schools throughout Northern California. We will all miss her charm and philanthropy forever.