Christine Baldacchino is a graphic artist and web designer with a background in early childhood education.

Her first book, Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress, which received a Quill and Quire starred review, is about a little boy who loves to use his imagination, and who pays the price for his individuality when teased by the other kids at school. “Baldacchino treats the tricky and controversial subject of expected gender behaviors and bullying with care and compassion, employing language and tone that avoid histrionics or preaching. Morris is a complex character whose creativity and personality shine,” writes Kirkus Reviews.

Of her own experience as a bullied child, Christine writes, “For years, I was afraid to be me outside of my own bedroom…If you’re being bullied, what they say is true–it gets better. It really does. Do what makes you happy. Wear your heart on the sleeve of your favourite tangerine dress and enjoy the fruit. Share it with the people who love you, and never doubt that you are loved.”

She lives with her husband in Toronto. She likes cats and the colour orange.