Mary Brooke Casad has written a series of books about an armadillo named Bluebonnet, detailing Bluebonnet's travels around Texas.

A native of Louisiana and graduate of University High School on the LSU campus, Casad received a bachelor's degree in journalism from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, and also studied at Harlaxton College in Grantham, England. She spent her childhood summers in the Texas Hill Country at Camp Waldemar, where she was first introduced to armadillos! She edited a history of the 75-year-old camp: The Waldemar Story - Camping in the Texas Hill Country . Casad was invited by First Lady Laura Bush to be a featured Texas writer at the Texas Book Festival in Austin in 1997 and 2000. She is a member of the Writers' League of Texas, the Texas State Historical Association and the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.

Mary Brooke is an active United Methodist layperson, having served on the committee that produced The United Methodist Hymnal (1989). She was elected to serve as a delegate to the 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008 United Methodist General and Jurisdictional Conferences, and as lay leader of the North Texas delegation to the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Conferences. She previously served as secretary of the Texas Methodist Foundation Board of Directors, and as chair of UMR Communications, Inc. Board of Directors. Currently, she is a trustee of the Foundation for Evangelism. Casad was Director of Connectional Ministries for the United Methodist Church in the Dallas area for ten years, the first woman and layperson named to this position. She is currently Executive Secretary of The Connectional Table of The United Methodist Church. Her husband, Dr. Victor E. Casad, is pastor of Christ United Methodist Church in Farmers Branch, Texas. They have two sons and two grandsons.

Casad is available for a limited number of speaking engagements about the Bluebonnet series. Fees are $250 per talk plus expenses. She can be contacted at mbc@bluebonnetarmadillo.com

Mary Brooke Casad

The Bluebonnet the Armadillo Series

• Bluebonnet of the Hill Country
• Bluebonnet at the Alamo
• Bluebonnet at the State Fair of Texas
• Bluebonnet at Dinosaur Valley State Park (Pelican Publishing, Gretna, LA)
• Bluebonnet at the Johnson Space Center (Pelican)
• Bluebonnet at the Texas State Capitol (Pelican)
• Bluebonnet at the Marshall Train Depot* (Pelican)
• Bluebonnet at the East Texas Oil Museum (Pelican)

*a 2005 nominee for the Texas State Reading Association’s Golden Spur Award for Children’s Literature