Dawn Margolis, Neighbor

Dawn Margolis has worked as a professional journalist for 17 years. Her work has appeared in top publications, including Women's Day, Wired, Shape and Parenting. She has also written several books for children including, The Men in Black Agent's Manual (Penguin U.K.), The Official Godzilla Movie Fact Book (Scholastic), and 52 Party Activities for Kids (Chronicle Books).

And it all began in 1991, after she earned her journalism degree from the University of Wisconsin. With diploma in hand she moved to New York  and earned her first of many poorly-paid jobs as a journalist.

Two years, and one promotion later, she left her post as an assistant editor at American Health and headed West. For the next eight years, Margolis worked in San Francisco, first as a researcher for Parenting magazine, then as an associate editor at BabyTalk magazine, later as a senior producer for  Parenting Online and finally as an editor at  BabyCenter.com

Eventually, she decided to chuck office life and go freelance. Since then, she has written for numerous magazines, newspapers and websites. She now lives in Marin County, California along with her husband, Josh, and children Ariel, 12, and Henry, 8. She recognizes that writing about children is a whole lot easier than rearing them.