Donna Jo Napoli is the author of several picture books as well as numerous novels for children and young adults, including Zel and Beast. She says of Flamingo Dream, "A few years ago my nephew was killed, leaving behind an eight-year-old son, Nick, and a daughter, Amanda, still in the womb. I searched for books that Nick and I could read together, books that would help me to help him deal with this enormous loss. We read many. But he wasn't satisfied with books that used metaphors. And he wasn't consoled by books that only hinted at the gaping wound in his heart. So I wrote a book without metaphors and without hints. And I found that writing it helped me to absorb the impact of this death as much as it helped Nick." The author lives with her family in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.