Mary was born in Fort Towson, Oklahoma. She received her primary education in Oakland, California. She attended California State Hayward University where she majored in healthcare administration and dance. She has served in various healthcare positions working as a certified nursing assistant. She has also worked as a librarian and an academic mentor.
At an early age, Mary fell in love with writing and storytelling. Her writing and storytelling was inspired by her late father, Elmer Mose Tyson, who told her stories about the adventures of Brother Rabbit when she was a young girl. These African American folktales had verbally been told to him when he was a young boy. Mary’s father could not read or write, but he made sure that she could.
Mary has always enjoyed gardening. One of her fondest memories was a conversation she had with her son when he was a young boy. She was telling him about plants that ate bugs and he said, “Mama, plants can’t eat bugs. They don’t have a mouth and teeth like me.” His statement was the beginning of her first children picture book.
Many year ago, Mary worked as a temporary librarian and an academic mentor for Parker Elementary School located in Oakland, California. Back then, what she enjoyed the most was working as a librarian and working in her beautiful garden. These two experiences planted a seed within her that blossomed. Years later, this blossoming seed was her inspiration for her first children picture book entitled, Grandpa has plants in his garden that eat bugs for breakfast. She presently resides in Sacramento, California, with her lazy fat cat, Tony.
Great book
LA
The characters in the book. One has to know the family. What I like was the simplicity of the book.The author's use of her mother,Parthine, was very clever. The book had very well art illustrations...over all I give this a 5 🌟 rating.
Ernest James Schubert,retired bottle maker
All Parthine wanted was for her grandfather to teach her how to grow a beautiful garden. Her grandfather finally agreed to teach her. But Parthine began to have concerns. One big concern was when her grandfather said he had plants in his garden that ate bugs for breakfast. Everybody knows plants can't eat bugs. Plants don't have a mouth or teeth. Or do they?
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