Kate Messner is the award-winning author of more than a dozen current and forthcoming books for young readers. Her first novel, The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z., won the 2010 E.B. White Read-Aloud Medal for Older Readers, while its follow-up, Sugar and Ice (Walker/Bloomsbury, 2010), was a Junior Library Guild selection. Kate is also the author of the popular Marty McGuire chapter book series and Silver Jaguar Society mysteries with Scholastic. Her pictures books with Chronicle Books include SeaMonster's First Day and Over and Under the Snow, an E.B. White Read Aloud Honor Book and NY Times and ALSC Notable book. Kate is a former middle school English teacher who also wrote REAL REVISION: AUTHORS' STRATEGIES TO SHARE WITH STUDENT WRITERS, a book about the revision process for teachers and writers (Stenhouse, 2011) Kate lives on Lake Champlain with her family, where she enjoys spending time outside biking, hiking, swimming in the summer, skiing and skating in the winter. Of course, she also loves curling up with a good book any day of the year. Follow her on Twitter @KateMessner and learn more at her website: http://www.katemessner.com.