Bette Greene is the author of several books for children and young adults, including Summer of My German Soldier, The Drowning of Stephan Jones, and the Newbery Honor book Philip Hall Likes Me, I Reckon Maybe. She currently resides in Massachusetts with her husband, Julian Summer Greene, and their two children.

Greene was raised in a small town in Arkansas, where she stuck out as a Jewish girl in the American South during the Depression and World War II. Her books focus on themes of injustice and alienation. Her book, Summer of My German Soldier, is based heavily on her childhood.