rowing up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the eldest of seven children, Michaela Muntean wrote stories and plays to entertain her sisters and brothers, enlisting them as actors in extravagant productions. Unknowingly, she was in training for her future profession. It would take awhile for Michaela to answer her calling, though, because she was sidetracked by a degree in comparative literature from the University of Wisconsin, and then she taught Russian literature for a year.

Finally, she answered an ad for an editor at Western Publishing Company / Golden Books in Racine, Wisconsin. Seemingly unqualified for the job, and knowing nothing about children's books, they hired her. It was the height of "Sesame Street's" popularity and Western was their primary publisher. For the next two years, she edited and wrote books for "Sesame Street" while on Western's staff.

Through a serendipitous meeting, Michaela was offered a job at Parents' Magazine in New York as the editor of Humpty Dumpty's Magazine and she jumped at the chance to move to her dream city.

Her relationship with "Sesame Street", however, would continue for the next 15 years, during which time she wrote over forty books for them and the Muppet organization. Michaela also maintained her association with Western, writing over twenty-five Golden books, including Panda Bear's Paintbox and Theodore Mouse Goes to Sea. For Parents' Magazine Press, she wrote Bicycle Bear, Bicycle Bear Rides Again, and The Old Man and the Afternoon Cat, among many other titles. She has returned periodically to editing and to establishing programs at a number of publishers, most recently for The American Museum of Natural History and Workman Publishing. Look for Michaela's newest picture book, Do Not Open This Book!, illustrated by Pascal Lemaître, published by Scholastic Press (2006).