George Ella Lyon once ate raw oats as a child just because she wanted to know what it was like to be a horse.
“I pretended to solve mysteries like the Bobbsey Twins, and I tried to fly off a shed roof like Peter Pan,” said the author of her childhood in Kentucky.
That active imagination, combined with true family stories passed down by her grandparents, has provided a wealth of material for her 22 picture books and five children’s novels.
On March 22, Ms. Lyon will be at the Bicentennial Library to talk about an author’s creative process with children.
“The library talk will be about my background, the importance of stories, the writing process (with slide illustrations), part reading (with illustrations from picture books) and a little music. I write songs and play guitar,” she said in an e-mail interview.