Julie Bowe grew up just outside of Luck, WI, within a Danish-American community called West Denmark. As a young Dane she learned that blue plates are hung on walls, not set on tables, Christmas trees are danced around, and the secret to a great pot of coffee is a raw egg in the grounds. One of her earliest memories is being fed egg coffee from a teaspoon by her mother. She likes coffee and her mother to this day. After graduating college with a degree in anthropology, Julie took a job as a youth director hoping there would be similarities between prehistoric people and postmodern junior and senior high youth. As a youth director, Julie learned how to strum a guitar, drive a bus, and play a wicked game of foosball. She also discovered that junior and senior high youth are deeply compassionate, funny, multi-talented, and not nearly as dusty as prehistoric people.
Julie continued entertaining other peoples’ kids until she decided to raise a couple of her own. She also wrote and edited curricula for fifteen years. More recently, she began writing books for young readers including the popular Friends for Keeps series—My Last Best Friend, My New Best Friend, My Best Frenemy and the forthcoming My Forever Friends (Dial, 2011). Julie still enjoys working with youth in her community near Eau Claire, WI, playing guitar, and winning at foosball. She has, to the great relief of pre- and post-historic people everywhere, given up bus driving.