Heather Shumaker

Heather Shumaker is an author and national speaker on parenting and early childhood topics. She holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology and anthropology from Swarthmore College and a master’s degree in land resources from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She has also worked as a journalist in radio, print, and online media and has advocated for free, unstructured play in homes and schools.

Her books include It’s OK Not to Share, It’s OK to Go Up the Slide: Renegade Rules for Raising Confident and Creative Kids, Saving Arcadia: A Story of Conservation and Community in the Great Lakes, and the middle-grade novel The Griffins of Castle Cary. She lives in northern Michigan with her family.