Robyn grew up around Ohio State University, surrounded by kids from different cultures. She visited the university’s museum on a regular basis and marveled over the mysterious artifacts from ancient tribes and the mummy displayed under glass.

She attempted to write her first novel in third-grade, The Dehydrated Ghost. Dehydrated was a vocabulary word at the time. It served as her inspiration for the character’s method of escape: becoming paper thin so as to slip through the seams in the walls. When she wasn’t puzzling over the antics of DG the dehydrated ghost, she was turning the refrigerator box into a club house or trying to design a rolling chair out of Popsicle sticks.

One of her favorite all-time games was playing the trail of clues. She and her friends would write riddles and clues for each other and hide them in strategic places. If the reader figured out the clue, he/she was able to advance to the next step. They spent hours trying to stump each other with clues that grew more and more difficult. 

As time passed, she starred in the 7th grade play, performed as the dummy in a Ventriloquist act in the high school talent show, and attempted to play violin in an orchestra filled with extraordinary musicians much better than her. Because she grew up around a university, she didn’t find it at all odd to be invited to a university lecture for her first date in high school. To her delight, her date showed up driving a huge BMW motorcycle.

Over the years, she has served hamburgers at McDonalds, filed things alphabetically for the magazine, Highlights for Children, clerked in a bookstore (where she read lots of books), worked in several restaurants (where she learned about gourmet cooking) and co-owned an award winning top-ten, gourmet Chinese restaurant. At one time, she even made her first-place, almond chocolate chip cookies to order.

Robyn has a Masters degree in Educational Psychology with an emphasis in gifted education and has taught Junior College down to elementary school. She continues to take courses in subjects that intrigue her and has kept a few souvenirs along the way. A paper weight resembling an alien sits on her desk at school from her time spent in a glass blowing class. Tomatoes fill a basket that she made in a basket weaving class. And her love of writing came from time spent with a novel writing group while living in England.

Her nonfiction, middle school book, America’s REAL First Thanksgiving, St. Augustine, Florida, September 8, 1565 was featured on the front page of the Life section in the USA Today newspaper in 2007. This controversial book brings to light a little known fact about our documented American history. She is currently working on a historical novel about the 1702 siege of St. Augustine, Florida (America’s oldest city).

On the creative side, she has finished a fantasy mystery for middle grade. This story was spun from one of her earlier work that won the Benjamin Franklin Silver Award for Best New Children’s Voice.
Robyn journeyed back in time with her 5th grade class where they recreated a banquet and even went so far as to build a knight from recyclables and duct tape. Evidence of their adventures can be found on their wiki: http://www.robyngioia.wikispaces.com.