Jim Arnosky
Jim Arnosky, author of The Brook Book (Putnam, 2007) and Dolphins on the Sand (Putnam, 2008) is an accomplished presenter and has been making appearances at schools for many years.

Anna Dewdney
Anna Dewdney is the creator of the beloved Llama Llama Red Pajama and the New York Times Bestseller and Book Sense Honor Book Llama Llama Mad at Mama. In her newest book, Llama Llama Misses Mama, Llama Llama goes to school for the first time.

Barbara Joosse
Barbara Joosse is the author of thirty-five books for children including ROAWR!, Please is a Good Word to Say, and Love is a Good Thing to Feel.

Nancy Krulik
Nancy Krulik is author of the Katie Kazoo series, the most recent book being Vote for Suzanne. She has written over 100 books, three of which were New York Times bestsellers. Although Nancy has written some books for teens, she is most well-known for the Katie Kazoo series.

Loren Long
Loren Long is illustrator of the best-selling favorites Toy Boat, Otis, and the re-issued version of The Little Engine That Could.

Patricia Polacco
Patricia Polacco doesn't create a book unless she loves the story. Her own passion for a story drives the narrative of her books, and this is clear in her dramatic and touching art. She is known throughout the country for her school visits which inspire children to think of themselves as heroes and to be courageous in life.

A.J. Stern
A.J. Stern is the author of the Frankly, Frannie series. She lives in an upside-down house in Brooklyn, New York. She has fifteen children under the age of eleven who all have very good jobs. She rides to work on a horse and only eats food that is orange. Okay, none of this is true (except the Brooklyn part), but it would be a little funny if it were. Right?

Hudson Talbott
Hudson Talbott's book, River of Dreams: The Story of the Hudson River pays homage to the river that shares his name with this gorgeously illustrated and fascinating history. Hudson Talbott also wrote and illustrated United Tweets of America, and illustrated Show Way (by Jacqueline Woodson), a Newbery Honor book, and Leonardo's Horse (by Jean Fritz), which was an ALA Notable Book and a VOYA Honor Book.

T.A. Barron
T.A. Barron, creator of the beloved series The Lost Years of Merlin and The Great Tree of Avalon, began his explorations of fantasy worlds as a student at Oxford University. He cites two main areas of inspiration for his tales: heroism and the environment.

Kathryn Erskine
As a resident of Virginia, Kathryn Erskine was devastated by the 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech. In the aftermath of this tragedy, she was driven to understand how community and family—particularly families with special-needs children—dealt with this violent event, and how our lives might be different if we understood each other better.

Adam Gidwitz
Adam Gidwitz went to college at Columbia and thought about majoring in religion, and then in philosophy, but ultimately chose English literature. After graduating, he stayed in New York and took a job in a second grade classroom at Saint Ann's School, in Brooklyn. He now teaches second grade, fifth grade, and high school, writing half the time and teaching the other half.

Alan Gratz
Alan Gratz is the author of the Horatio Wilkes mysteries Something Rotten and Something Wicked as well as the more recent The Brooklyn Nine, which tells the stories of nine generations of baseball lovers within one family.

Ingrid Law
Ingrid Law is a huge fan of words and stories, of small towns and big ideas. Ingrid's first book and New York Times bestseller, Savvy, received numerous awards, including a Newbery Honor, and appeared on many lists. Her second book, Scumble, takes place in the same world, but with a whole new cast of characters.

C. Alexander London
C. Alexander London is an award-winning author of non-fiction for grown-ups, an accomplished skeet-shooter, a master SCUBA diver, and a fully licensed librarian. He has watched television in 23 countires, survived an erupting volcano, a hurricane, four civil wars, and a mysterious bite on his little toe in the jungles of Thailand. Currently, C. Alexander London lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Robin Palmer
Robin Palmer's teen books include Cindy Ella, Geek Charming, and Little Miss Red. Her newest book, however, is the middle grade novel Yours Truly, Lucy B. Parker: Girl vs. Superstar

Richard Peck
Richard Peck has written more than thirty novels, and in the process has become one of America's most highly respected writers for young people. A versatile author, he is beloved by middle-graders as well as young adults for his comedies and coming of age novels.

Dean Pitchford
Dean Pitchford was born and raised in Hawaii and studied at Yale. He began his career as an actor off and on Broadway before turning to songwriting, screenwriting and directing. Dean has been nominated for four Academy Awards (winning the Oscar and Golden Globe for "Fame"), six Grammys, and two Tony Awards. His first novel for young readers was The Big One-Oh, followed by Captain Nobody.

Michael Reisman
Michael Reisman was born and raised in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, where he spent a lot of time daydreaming in the nearby woods. He can juggle and use chopsticks with either hand, but unlike the characters in his books Simon Bloom the Gravity Keeper and Simon Bloom: The Octopus Effect, he cannot control the universe.

Lauren Tarshis
Lauren Tarshis is the editor of Scholastic's Storyworks magazine. Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree was her first book and received numerous awards and honors, including the Golden Kite Award Honor. Her most recent book, Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell in Love centers the seventh-grade dance, crushes, and even a secret admirer!

Jacqueline West
Visit her website at www.jacquelinewest.com and learn more about The Books of Elsewhere at www.booksofelsewhere.com.

Tara Altebrando
Tara Altebrando has lived in four out of the five boroughs of New York City (Staten Island, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens). Her newest Young Adult novel, The Dreamland Social Club is set in Brooklyn's Coney Island. Tara has also worked as a music journalist in Dublin, a stand-up comic, and was once paid to watch television. She lives in Queens, New York with her husband and daughters.

Jay Asher
Jay Asher, author of Thirteen Reasons Why (Razorbill, 2007) loves making school and library appearances. He will also help organize meaningful programs if he can't be there in person.

T.A. Barron
T.A. Barron, creator of the beloved series The Lost Years of Merlin and The Great Tree of Avalon, began his explorations of fantasy worlds as a student at Oxford University. He cites two main areas of inspiration for his tales: heroism and the environment.

Frank Beddor
Frank Beddor is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Looking Glass Wars, the young-adult novel that first introduced young readers to the true story of Alyss, followed by its sequel, Seeing Redd, and the conclusion to the trilogy, ArchEnemy.

Heather Brewer
Heather Brewer was not your typical teen growing up, and she's certainly not your typical adult now. Her favorite colors are black and black. She believes it's quite possible that vampires are running our world's governments.

Kathryn Erskine
As a resident of Virginia, Kathryn Erskine was devastated by the 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech. In the aftermath of this tragedy, she was driven to understand how community and family—particularly families with special-needs children—dealt with this violent event, and how our lives might be different if we understood each other better.

Alan Gratz
Alan Gratz is the author of the Horatio Wilkes mysteries Something Rotten and Something Wicked as well as the more recent The Brooklyn Nine, which tells the stories of nine generations of baseball lovers within one family.

John Green
John Green is author of the 2006 Michael L. Printz Medal winner Looking for Alaska, 2007 Michael L. Printz Honor book An Abundance of Katherines and Paper Towns.

Paul Griffin
Paul began writing his first novel as he finished college, in 1988. That novel and twenty-two others went unpublished. Meanwhile, he worked on the truck docks and in construction, as a dog trainer and a driver, teacher, tutor, EMT, butler, bartender, waiter, cook and dishwasher (alongside Vin Diesel).

Jennifer Hubbard
Jennifer Hubbard has been writing since the age of six, when she used to write and illustrate her own picture books and had her first short story published at the age of seventeen. She is the author of The Secret Year and Try Not to Breathe. She lives in Philadelphia and blogs at writerjenn.livejournal.com.

Marie Lu
Marie Lu writes dystopian stories. (Ironically, she was born in 1984.) Before Marie started writing full time, she was the art director at a video game company. She also owns the business and brand Fuzz Academy, which was chosen by C21Media as one of the International Licensing Expo 2010's brands with the most potential for a TV series. She graduated from USC in '06 and live in Los Angeles, where she spends much of her time lost on the freeways.

Richelle Mead
Richelle Mead is the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author of the Vampire Academy series, which has also received honors from the ALA.

Jandy Nelson
For the past twelve years, Jandy Nelson has been a literary agent with Manus & Associates Literary Agency, and has also taught and lectured on creative writing. Her poetry has been published in various literary journals, but The Sky Is Everywhere is her first novel.

Robin Palmer
Robin Palmer's teen books include Cindy Ella, Geek Charming, and Little Miss Red. Her newest book, however, is the middle grade novel Yours Truly, Lucy B. Parker: Girl vs. Superstar

Beth Revis
A former English teacher, Beth Revis is the founder of the new popular dystopian blog, the League of Extraordinary Writers and also blogs about writing, grammar and publishing at Writing it Out. She lives in rural North Carolina with her husband and dog, and believes space is nowhere near the final frontier. Across the Universe is her first novel.

Ruta Sepetys
Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Ruta Sepetys grew up hearing stories of her father's childhood as a Lithuanian refugee. Realizing this was a story never told in a novel for young adults, Ruta decided to tell it herself. When not writing, Ruta works in the music industry. Between Shades of Gray is her first novel. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

Nova Ren Suma
Nova Ren Suma has an MFA in fiction from Columbia University and a BA in writing & photography from Antioch College, and has been awarded fiction fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts and the Corporation of Yaddo, and, twice, from the MacDowell Colony. She has published short stories for adults in literary journals and is the author of the tween novel Dani Noir (Simon & Schuster/Aladdin, 2009).

Padma Venkatraman
Padma Venkatraman is an oceanographer by training and lives in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. Along with Island’s End, she is the author of Climbing the Stairs (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2008; Speak, 2010) and twenty books for young readers, published in India, on a variety of subjects.

Paul Volponi
Paul Volponi is a writer, journalist and teacher living in New York City. For six years he taught incarcerated teens on Rikers Island to read and write, and for six years he taught teens in drug day-treatment centers. These experiences have influenced many of his novels. He is the author of Black and White (winner of the IRA Children's Book Award for YA Fiction), Rooftop, Rucker Park Setup and, most recently, Hurricane Song.

Rosalind Wiseman
Rosalind Wiseman is an internationally recognized author and educator on children, teens, parenting, education and social justice. Her work aims to help parents, educators, and young people successfully navigate the social challenges of young adulthood. Rosalind's best-selling Queen Bees and Wannabes was turned into the movie Mean Girls, which she co-wrote with Tina Fey.