Patricia Hermes is the author of almost fifty books for readers from early middle grades through young adult, as well as two nonfiction books for adults. Her books have won many awards and recognitions: American Library Association Best Book, Smithsonian Notable Book, C.S. Lewis Honor Book, Ira Children's Choice, as well as many state awards, four of them for the novel,You Shouldn't Have to Say Goodbye.As a lecturer and speaker at schools and libraries, she engages her audience with her lively presentations, underscoring key qualities of good writing, and, of course, good rewriting. (She has been known to revise her books ten times!) She has researched and written six historical novels in the Scholastic Dear America/My America series.