Clare Vanderpool lives in Wichita, KS with her husband and four children.  As a huge fan of March Madness, she was thrilled to be asked to participate in SLJ’s Battle of the Books because it combines two of her favorite things:  brackets and books!  Clare has been a life-long reader who has been known to […]

Cat Winters was born and raised in Southern California, near Disneyland, which may explain her love of haunted mansions, bygone eras, and fantasylands. She received degrees in drama and English from the University of California, Irvine, and formerly worked in publishing. Her critically acclaimed debut novel, In the Shadow of Blackbirds, was named a 2014 […]

Elizabeth Wein is the highly opinionated author of Code Name Verity, which won the acclaimed Undead Vote in SLJ’s 2013 BoB. After Rose Under Fire’s ignominious BoB defeat in 2014, Elizabeth cunningly spent the year procrastinating to ensure she wouldn’t have a book eligible for combat in 2015. She is utterly delighted to be involved […]

Marcus Sedgwick has always been fascinated with spirals, which occur throughout nature from the microscopic to the interstellar. Fundamentally elegant and mesmerizing, many cultures and individuals have ascribed a special meaning to the form. Sedgwick is the author of more than a dozen books for young adults including the Printz Award-winning Midwinterblood, She is Not […]

When Jason Reynolds was a kid, one of his favorite things to do was pour himself a huge bowl of Rice Crispies for breakfast. Then, after six or seven scoops of sugar, he’d lean over with his ear close enough to the bowl to hear the cereal crackle in the milk. He’d pretend the crispies […]

Elizabeth Rusch once confessed on a panel that her interests have a curious case of ADHD. Her wide-ranging passions include astronomy, volcanology, art, music, history, nature, waves, jokes, crayons, and mud — anything that catches her fancy. Elizabeth’s award-winning books for young readers include Eruption!, The Mighty Mars Rovers, Electrical Wizard, For the Love of Music, A Day with No […]

Isabel Quintero was born and raised in Southern California. Her love of reading and writing comes from her mother reading to her before she went to bed, and from the teachers and professors who encouraged her to keep writing. Her love of chorizo and carne asada tacos comes from her dad grilling on Sundays during […]