When Lisa Harkrader was in the third grade, she wanted to be a writer, an artist, a spy, and second baseman for the Kansas City Royals.

Those last two haven’t happened, but she has written more than twenty books for children and hundreds of short stories, articles, and poems. Her novel Airball: My Life in Briefs received the William Allen White Award as well as the Juvenile Literary Award from the Friends of American Writers, was named a Kansas Notable Book, and was on many state award lists. For The Adventures of Beanboy, a middle-grade novel about a boy who loves comic books, Harkrader drew the many illustrations that fill the book, for the first time combining her two loves—writing and art—in one project. Beanboy is also a Kansas Notable Book and has been on seven state award lists. In the sequel, Cool Beans, main character Tucker MacBean enters an epic dodgeball tournament to try to save his school’s Art Club.

Lisa Harkrader lives in Kansas with her husband and two children. And she still wants to be a spy.