Kate DiCamillo is the author of the novels Because of Winn-Dixie, a Newbery Honor winner; The Tale of Despereaux, a Newbery Medal winner; The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane; The Magician’s Elephant; and Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures, a Newbery Medal winner. About The Tiger Rising, she says, “Rob Horton first showed up in a short story I was writing. I finished the story, but apparently Rob wasn’t finished with me. He hung around for weeks afterward, haunting the other stories I was working on. Finally, I said to him, ‘What in the world do you want?’ And he said, ‘I know where there’s a tiger.’ Like Sistine, I said one word back to him: ‘Where?’ The Tiger Rising is how Rob Horton answered me.” Kate DiCamillo is also the author of a picture book, Great Joy; the Mercy Watson and Tales from Deckawoo Drive series for beginning readers; and, with Alison McGhee, the three Bink and Gollie books, also for beginning readers. She lives in Minneapolis.