The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs

Betty G. Birney was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1947 and attended school in Affton, a suburb of St. Louis. She wrote her first story when she was seven years old and kept writing throughout her teenage years. Growing up, she desired to be an actor as well as a writer, and this early interest in various forms of narrative and make-believe informs The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs’s exploration of both The Importance of Imagination in Childhood and Fostering Community Through Storytelling. 

Birney graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English from Webster University in 1969 and worked for several years as an English teacher. She also worked in advertising in Missouri and Illinois before moving to California. There, she joined the Disney advertising department and later worked at the Disney studio in Burbank, writing and producing television commercials and theatrical trailers for Disney films like Cinderella and Fantasia. She became a writer and story editor for the Disney Channel working on Welcome to Pooh Corner. Birney went on to write more than 200 episodes on major animation cartoons and live-action programs, including Where’s Waldo, Zoobilee Zoo, and Dumbo’s Circus. She also wrote the 2002 television film Mary Christmas.