Dave Saltman is a journalist, teacher, and tutor. In his early newspaper career, he worked for the Washington Post, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, and States News Service; later, he worked as an online producer for America Online, and subsequently as a writer, producer, and editor for a number of Web sites. He received his BA from Clark University, an MBA from Marymount University, and a teaching credential, in English and social science, from California State University, Northridge, where he attended the Accelerated Collaborative Teacher Preparation Program (ACT), offered by the Eisner College of Education. He has volunteered as a tutor for a state-funded, free, library-based literacy program for adults and youth, in both Burbank, California, and Sonoma County, California, where he now lives. He was born in a New York City suburb, and raised outside Washington, DC, in Maryland, where he graduated high school.
He dedicates this book to his many teachers and professors, including Mrs. Keller, of Washington Avenue School, Hartsdale, New York, and Wren Abramo, Regis Boyle, and Ashby Bryson, who worked for Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools. They, and many others, encouraged learning, inspired achievement, and offered engagement with the world around students, and beyond school walls.