AJ Whitney grew up outside a rural Midwestern farming community until she was ten years old. She spent her days playing among the trees and in cornfields; splashing in the creek; riding bikes down country roads; catching bugs, frogs, and tadpoles; and attempting to befriend the neighbors' cows and horses. When she wasn't outdoors, she usually had her nose buried in a book, teaching herself to read at the age of three and reading her first three-hundred-page novel in only second grade. She spent her middle and high school years in the small town of Havana, Illinois, where she had her first jobs in a bookstore and the local public library. She spent these formative years learning how a close-knit community functions, for better or for worse.After high school, AJ went on to earn her bachelor's degree in counseling and her master's in school counseling. She has lived with her family in several different places-Versailles, Missouri, in the Ozarks; Maryville, Missouri; Cherryvale, Kansas; and Artesia, New Mexico, south of Roswell and north of the famous Carlsbad Caverns-before finally settling in the Kansas City metro several years ago. AJ is a practicing middle school counselor with a heart for helping kids through the most tumultuous years of their lives. Besides reading, she is also passionate about mental health; diversity, equity, and inclusion; parenting; chronic illness; and just generally caring for other people. In her spare time, she enjoys singing, music, painting, photography, board games, cooking (but not cleaning!), and all animals.Check out her social media here: -TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@aj_thewriter-Instagram: www.instagram.com/aj.thewriter-Facebook: www.facebook.com/ajwhitneybooks
