<h2>Alumni in the News</h2>
<h3>Bonnie Lou Risbey</h3>
<p class="textbodybold"><strong>Alumni Story 2 : "Writing is my pleasure rather than my career."</strong></p>
<p class="textbody">Bonnie Lou Risby grew up in the Illinois woodlands on the bluffs across the Mississippi from St. Louis. These woods were her playground where she and her siblings camped out, played detective, scout, hunter, etc. and enjoyed the beauty of the outdoors in every season. After attending college (SIUE; BA 70; MS 76) she taught school in Columbia, Illinois for 12 years (HS, Jr. H, ES-French, English, 6th, gifted 4-8). When Bonnie helped write the grant that established the Gifted program around 1975 there were few materials readily available for GE/Critical Thinking that fit well with a one-period-per-week pullout program. To supplement curriculum materials, Bonnie started creating grid logic problemsindividualized to feature her own students. These problems caught the fancy of the Unit secretary who often helped duplicate them and was instrumental in encouraging Bonnie to publish them for students in other schools.</p>
<p class="textbody">After the birth of her son, Bonnie retired from teaching joining a family counseling practice in West Port for 12 years. Bonnie still wrote and created logic books in her spare moments. Today retired from her therapy practice, Bonnie works in a family business with her husband and son. Her office is in her home in Ballwin, Missouri, where Bonnie and her faithful pug dog, Francy, can be found most days. But Bonnie has always continued to write: classroom books, chapter books, and books for young adults. She comments, "It is my pleasure rather than my career."</p>
<p class="textbody">Besides writing, Bonnie loves float trips down Ozark streams, biking, long walks with Francy, gardening, family history, and travel. Some of her analogy books include <a href="http://www.dandylionbooks.com">Analogy Roundup, Thinking Through Analogies, Analogies for the 21st Century</a> and <a href="http://www.dandylionbooks.com">Advancing Through Analogies</a>. Other books include <a href="http://www.piecesoflearning.com">The Great Honey Robbery</a> .</p>