Author of the Bluebonnet Series, Mary Brooke Casad created the friendly and charismatic Bluebonnet, a traveling armadillo who explores landmarks and teaches children about Texas geography and history. Casad is a member of the Writers' League of Texas, the Texas State Historical Association, and the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. In 1997 and 2000, she was invited by First Lady Laura Bush to be a featured Texas writer at the Texas Book Festival in Austin.
A native of Louisiana, Casad received a bachelor's degree in journalism from Southern Methodist University. In addition to writing children's books, she served as the first full-time executive secretary of the Connectional Table of the United Methodist Church, served on the committee that produced The United Methodist Hymnal, was elected six times as a delegate to the United Methodist General and Jurisdictional Conferences, was the first woman and layperson to serve as director of connectional ministries for the United Methodist Church in the Dallas area, and was chairperson of the board of trustees of the Foundation for Evangelism. Currently, she is a member the Texas Methodist Foundation Board of Directors.
Casad visits schools and libraries with her Bluebonnet puppet, teaching children about the process of writing Texas' favorite armadillo book series. She resides in Sulphur Springs, Texas, with her husband. They have two sons, a daughter-in-law, and three grandchildren.
