Deborah Kent has written eighteen young adult novels and more than fifty children's nonfiction titles. She has published three other books with Kingfisher in the Saddles, Stars & Stripes series: Chance of a Lifetime, Blackwater Creek, Riding the Pony Express. A graduate of Oberlin College and Smith College, Debra now lives in Chicago with her daughter and husband, the children's author R. Conrad Stein.