About Dr. Houston...
Dr. Gloria Houston earned her Master's and Doctorate degrees at the University of South Florida, Tampa and was formerly a professor and author-in-residence at USF as well as founder of the Suncoast Young Authors Conference, USF. She has been an educator for grades K-12 throughout the Bay Area and her writing textbook How Writing Works: Imposing Organizational Structure Within The Writing Process has been a best-seller among writers and teachers. As a teacher, she was fondly known as "Ms. Mac" to her students.
Dr. Houston has written many classics such as My Great Aunt Arizona (Smithsonian Treasure and Family Channel Best Books List), Mountain Valor (nominated for the Newberry Medal) and the multi-award winning Littlejim books.
Most recently, Dr. Houston donated the rights to her most well-known book, The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree, to help save her childhood hometown of Spruce Pine, NC. The results have been amazing, creating 31 new businesses, new employment for over 1,000 people who were under- or unemployed, and hope to an otherwise dying community.
Word of this creative and unique endeavor spread to the White House, where First Lady Laura Bush, familiar with Houston's books, chose to honor the town and Houston's efforts by featuring items from the town in this year's White House Christmas decorations at the East Wing entrance and the Oval Office doorway.
Dr. Houston is a multi-award winning author and educator honored in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in Education, Outstanding Women of the Twenty-First Century and Contemporary Authors as well as other references.
