Rebecca McMahon Giles earned her B.S. in Elementary Education from Southwest Texas State University, her Master of Education from The University of Texas at Austin, and her Ph.D. in Education from the University of Southern Mississippi. She has over 30 years of teaching experience ranging from pre-kindergarten through higher education and has spoken and published widely on numerous topics related to early childhood education, literacy, and teacher preparation. Raised in Texas, she now lives on the Gulf Coast with her husband and two teenage sons. Coastal Mississippi Alphabet is her first children's book.