Co-creator and author of the Brady Brady books, Mary Shaw is mom to three kids and has been married for 30 years to a professional hockey player-turned-coach. Over the years, the family moved too many times to count: Hartford, Ottawa, Detroit, Cincinnati, Tampa and St. Louis, to name just a few. “Joining a hockey team was a great way to meet other kids and families. My girls also played!” says Mary.

She first started writing because she was trying to get her hockey-obsessed young son to read. His older sister loved to read, but all Brady wanted to do was play hockey. Hockey was ALL he thought about. With her husband coaching and all three kids playing the sport, Mary was uniquely qualified to write about the subject.

Her first book was book Brady Brady and the Great Rink. Then the concept expanded. “When we moved to a football state — I wrote a Brady Brady football book. When we moved to a baseball state — I wrote a Brady Brady baseball book,” she explains. The books are all loosely based on her son Brady and his siblings and friends, and her oldest daughter was the inspiration for Brady Brady and the Twirling Torpedo.

Aside from being a huge sports fan, Mary volunteers serving lunches at a men’s shelter and is very involved in animal welfare and rescue. Her family has fostered many animals over the years. Mary and her husband currently have two dogs and a cat and live, for now, in Columbus, Ohio.