About the Children's Writer,
Richard Carlson Jr.

Rich was born in 1971 and presently lives in the beautiful desert of the southwestern United States in Tucson, Arizona.

He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia at almost twenty-one years of age. Because of his mental illness, he didn't realize he had paranoid schizophrenia until over twelve years later when he was thirty-three. Presently, he is still recovering, but life looks very promising for which he is very grateful. He also has obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

Rich is the author of seven self-published print-on-demand books that were written while he was ill. Unfortunately, his seven books do not reflect his best writing and the publication of them was cancelled. He apologizes to anyone who read and/or bought them. Presently, he writes for children and has self-published books via online print-on-demand publishing companies. He looks forward to his work being published by a traditional publisher.

Rich's new Web site about his writing about love is at: www.feelingsfeelings.com.

In the second grade, I won the Why My Teacher is My Valentine contest held at our school. A third grade girl also was a winner. Our prize was a lunch at a McDonald's restaurant with our teacher.

I was a happy child; Dad and I sometime around Christmas.

Me playing.

Kevin and me.

I was a good child except for teasing for the most part.

My grandparents and me; they were very nice and influenced me
quite a bit for the better, I believe. Grandpa was a great role model
for me to look up to. I remember him best.

Boyhood was fun.

A horse and me; this photograph was taken for use in a project my
father had done for Special Olympics here in Tucson.

Me in the very hot Arizona desert. This photograph
was taken in April 1999.

A baby sparrow and me. It fell out of its nest outside an eatery and my sister and mother brought it home as they couldn't reach to get it back into its nest. We (mainly my dad and sister), nursed it and they eventually let it go into the wild. We hope he is doing well!