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Sherry is a fifth generation Texan, the youngest of nine children. Her father was a tenant farmer in the Rio Grande Valley who grew cotton and vegetables. One day a late freeze killed all his crops and he gave up farming. The family moved to North Central Texas where many other relatives lived.

Sherry lived on a dairy farm for a while where they raised pigs, cows, chickens, dogs and twenty cats! She attended grades one through eight in the small town of Weatherford, TX. For several summers the family lived in a small house on top of an isolated mountain. There were no other people around so Sherry became a wild child of nature roaming the cedar-covered rocky hills, creeks, cliffs and fields of wildflowers, creating a bevy of make believe characters.

The family moved to Arlington, TX where Sherry attended grades nine through twelve. She graduated with honors from Sam Houston High School. She also graduated with honors from the University of Texas at Arlington with a degree in French. She completed graduate courses there in Linguistics and English.

Although the family was too poor to afford a lot of books, Sherry always loved reading and libraries. During high school she worked in the school library for three years. To pay for her college education, she worked at the University Library full time during the summers and part time during the school semesters.

While working on her Master's Degree, she met her future husband in the library. A year later they married and moved to Central Texas so he could finish his degree at Texas A&M University. During this time, Sherry was the librarian for the A&M Oceanography/Meteorology Departments' large library.

A few years later, the Garlands moved to Houston where they lived for twenty-three years. This is where Sherry made many Vietnamese friends that influenced her writing.
Sherry's writing career began when her high school English teacher encouraged her to enter a writing contest. She won first place and lots of encouragement, but it was many years later before she sold her first novel for adults. In 1988 Ms. Garland switched to writing for children and teens, often getting material from personal experiences, real events or historical subjects.

Ms. Garland's books have won over forty awards and honors, including ALA Notable, Reading Rainbow, Texas Bluebonndet List, BBYA, California Young Readers Medal, Western Writers of America Spur Award, Texas Institute of Letters Award, RWA Rita Award, Parents Choice, IRA and many, many more. Three of her books were on the best seller list and one was made into an HBO TV show.

Ms. Garland has spoken at hundreds of schools across Texas and the USA and traveled to Asia three times to speak at International Schools. She also visited Vietnam for research.
Writing Career
2nd grade at Wm. B. Travis Elementary was fun
Graduatin Day at Sam Houston High School
My first children's novel was inspired by meeting a Houston Police Horse.
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