I moved to Tucson, Arizona in 1996 after spending most of my life in upstate New York. I was a sixth and eighth grade English teacher in Niskayuna's middle schools for nearly a decade before becoming a full time children's book author in 1979 when my first book, MAGIC OF THE GLITS, was published.

I am a passionate tennis player, grandmother, reader, and nature lover. In the winter, my home is the desert in the foothills of the Catalina Mountains. In the summer, I live by the sand and sea of Cape Cod.

Many of my books have been on state lists and have been published in Japan, Germany, England, Austria, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and France. THE MAGIC OF THE GLITS won both the William Allen White Award and the Golden Kite Award. THE SHELL LADY'S DAUGHTER was chosen by the A.L.A. as a best young adult book of 1983. WITH WESTIE AND THE TIN MAN won the children's Book Award of the Child Study Committee in 1986. SPLIT SISTERS in 1987 and GHOST BROTHER in 1991 were I.R.A. Children's Choices selections. ONE SISTER TOO MANY was on the 1991 Young Adults' Choices list. ALWAYS AND FOREVER FRIENDS and EDDIE'S BLUE WINGED DRAGON were on a 1991 I.R.A. 99 Favorite Paperbacks list. In 2001 ONE UNHAPPY HORSE won the A.S.P.C.A. children's book award.

My most recently published book is THE NO PLACE CAT. Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin Co., 2002.

I got the idea for this book when I saw a cat following a young man across a stream on stepping stones in a state park in Arizona. He said it wasn't his cat but that it had been following him.
In my novels, I like trying to work through the ordinary problems that children face nowadays. THE NO PLACE CAT is about a girl who hates the restrictions her family puts on her. She learns to deal with them after taking on responsibility for a stray cat which adopts her.

Some people say writing is hard. For me it has always been a pleasure.

Readers have given THE NO PLACE CAT five stars on the Amazon.com rating.
Quoting from a School Library Journal review by Genevieve Gallagher of the N.Y. Public Library, "This is an engaging story about what happens when families change and how too much freedom can make a child feel lonely."

I've always loved horses, and since moving out west, I've enjoyed writing about them. THAT HORSE WHISKEY, MORE THAN A HORSE, and more recently, ONE UNHAPPY HORSE all have equine creatures as main characters. ONE UNHAPPY HORSE got a five star rating from Amazon.com readrs. And a quote from School Library Journal by Carol Schene of Taunton Public Schools in Massachusetts says, "Once again Adler has written a well-paced story with interesting and mostly sympathetic characters."

The MAGIC OF THE GLITS. iUniverse.com, Inc. 2000

Jeremy's got a broken leg and a sad orphan girl living in his summer cottage on the ocean beach in Cape Cod. He'd rather be playing baseball, but instead he sets out to cheer up seven year old Lynette, who's moping about and making him feel very sorry for her. The magical creatures he invents to entertain her seem so real that she believes in them, and therein lies the key to her recovery.

GHOST BROTHER. Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin Co., 1990

Wally's older brother, Jon-o, was everything that Wally isn't - daring a good athlete, and very popular. Wally can't quite forgive Jon-o for getting himself killed and depriving Wally of his guidance. Now Jon-o's ghost has come to help him try exciting new things - just what Wally needs, at least for a while.

THE NO PLACE CAT. Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin Co. 2002

Twelve year old Tess is so frustrated by the rules she's expected to live with in her father and stepmother's home that she runs away to stay with her mother instead. The trouble is, Mom is a free spirit and living with her isn't easy either. Besides, a homeless cat adopts Tess and neither her mother nor her father will allow a cat in the house. Fighting for a pet she didn't think she wanted, Tess learns some difficult truths.

ONE UNHAPPY HORSE. Clarion/Houghton Mifflin Co. 2001

The love of Jan's life is her horse, Dove, but Dove needs an operation and with Dad gone, Mom can't afford to pay for it. Then Jan is befriended by Mattie, who lives in the assisted-living house that was once Jan's home. But what can a lonely old woman and a needy girl do to help each other?