The author, Holly Baumkratz, has two master's degrees in education from the University of Phoenix. She is a certified teacher, having taught in Arizona and California, and has successfully owned and operated a child care and a preschool in Arizona. Mrs. Baumkratz's passion for education is long-standing and, when combined with her master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction Development, has led her on a journey she never imagined. Owning the preschool has given Mrs. Baumkratz the hands on experience to see what truly works with children and their education. She has created her own curriculum which starts teaching in the child care at 6 months old. By 18 months, the children enter her… preschool prepared to learn. In writing the curriculum for Sprouts of AZ, Mrs. Baumkratz, along with her wonderful partner Sandra Rodriguez de Leyva, started these stories about Sam and a ram. Before long, all the students were reading these stories in the preschool. Now they are available to everyone, not just Sprouts. It is our hope to educate young children in the way they were meant to be educated, long before the requirement of kindergarten and beyond. In her spare time, Mrs. Baumkratz enjoys her sons' activities, watching documentaries, and playing the Wii. She loves the life she has chosen and thanks her husband for standing by all her choices to follow her dreams.