Jessica Gunderson grew up in Washburn, North Dakota, a land of fiery sunsets and horizons of wheat. As a kid, she loved to explore the ravines in her hometown and pretend she was lost, hoping for a prince to come and save her. (He never did, and she always found her way out on her own.) She spent summer days reading on a sunny rock in her backyard, while her best friend Kitty (her cat) roamed the trees. When she was a teenager, she was embarrassed by how much she read, so she hid her books behind teen magazines. Jessica wrote her first novel, a mystery, at age 10, but unfortunately the manuscript got lost before she could get it published. She continued to write through her college years at the University of North Dakota and went on to get an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Minnesota State University, Mankato. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin, with her husband--artist Jason Ruhl--and her new cat, Yossarian. (Kitty, sadly, is now buried next to her beloved trees.) Jessica has written more than 50 books for young readers, both fiction and nonfiction. She is always currently at work on something.