Peter Brooks was born in 1944 in Lisbon, Portugal. His American-born parents were refugee relief workers stationed there to help people fleeing the Holocaust make their way to the United States. In fact he crossed the Atlantic with his mother on a refugee ship as an infant with a salad bowl for a cradle.
As he grew up hearing the fantastic war-time tales of his family and their friends, he naturally developed his own aptitude for story-telling. After graduating from Harvard and UC Berkeley with degrees in art history, this story-telling ability served him well in his career as an advocate for non-profit organizations and a high school and community college instructor in art history and languages.
As a father and grandfather, Peter spontaneously developed a kind of household language, which his daughter called “wing-speak.” Wing-speak was given a boost by two cats, Toby and Phoebe, real-life pets who provided inspiration for Chungleberry Bunting Learns to Fly. The author gratefully acknowledges their help and that of two real-life human mentors who appear in the story as Father Jim and Dr. Motherwing.
