Apricot Banks writes fun books for kids that adults like too. A teacher-librarian, she loves sharing funny, adventurous, imaginative books. Her chapter books for kids aged 5-9 were written to inspire a love of reading. Apricot Banks is the juvenile fiction pen name for Maaja Wentz, an award-winning writer of quirky speculative fiction. "Inside of a Dog," appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. "You," won a short story prize in the national Norma Epstein Foundation competition for Creative Writing, University of Toronto. Maaja's first novel, Feeding Frenzy: Curse of the Necromancer, received over 141 000 reads on Wattpad before being published. Chosen as a "Featured Story," it went on to win the coveted HQ Love Watty award.