Cheryl B. Klein, the granddaughter of a children's literature professor, grew up in a town called Peculiar, Missouri, and thus both nature and nurture led her to a career in children's books. She has worked as an editor in the field for more than two decades, and her adult nonfiction book on middle-grade and young adult novels -- The Magic Words: Writing Great Books for Children and Young Adults -- was praised by Booklist as "an indispensable, authoritative guide to the act, art, and craft of creation" in a starred review. Her wide-ranging picture book texts include Wings, illustrated by Tomie dePaola; Thunder Trucks, co-written with Katy Beebe, illustrated by Mike Boldt; A Year of Everyday Wonders, illustrated by Qin Leng; and Hamsters Make Terrible Roommates, illustrated by Abhi Alwar. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
