MARC ARONSON enjoyed working with Charles and all of the authors on this book. He began his career in books for younger readers working as an editor and finds the weave between writing his own books and working on the writing of others ever challenging and ever fascinating. He is now a full-time faculty member at the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers University.

CHRIS BARTON grew up in Texas, lives there still, and knows about those telephone poles and two-a-days from personal experience. He won a Sibert Honor for The Day-Glo Brothers. His extensive knowledge of putting up false fronts comes (mostly) from researching and writing the young adult nonfiction thriller Can I See Your I.D.? True Stories of False Identities.

NORA RALEIGH BASKIN is the author of ten novels for young readers. She has won several awards, including a Schneider Family Book Award for Anything But Typical. A 2001 Publishers Weekly “Flying Start” selectee, Nora Raleigh Baskin has also published short stories and personal narrative essays that have appeared in the Boston Globe magazine and The Writer magazine. She teaches creative writing at schools and libraries across the country, as well as through the Gotham Writers’ Workshop and the Hudson Valley Writers’ Center. Her most recent young adult novel is Subway Love.

Nora’s story is yet another iteration of her own autobiographical history given to a fictional character from a childhood of dysfunctional memories. In other words: the gift that keeps on giving.

MARINA BUDHOS grew up in Queens, a setting she revisited while researching her nonfiction book REMIX: Conversations with Immigrant Teenagers and her award-winning young adult novel Ask Me No Questions. She is currently working on an adult novel, a second nonfiction book co-written with Marc Aronson, and a young adult novel that was inspired in part by the voice and characters she created for her story, “Connections.”

ELLEN HOPKINS is the award-winning author of ten New York Times best-selling young adult novels-in-verse, including Crank, plus two adult verse novels. She lives near Carson City, Nevada, where she recently founded Ventana Sierra, a nonprofit organization that helps youth in need obtain safe housing and assists them in working toward career goals through higher education, mentorship, and the arts.

A.S. KING is an award-winning author of young adult books, including the highly acclaimed Reality Boy, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize winner Ask the Passengers, the Michael L. Printz Honor Book Please Ignore Vera Dietz, Everybody Sees the Ants, and the upcoming Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future. Her short fiction for adults has been widely published and nominated for Best New American Voices. After fifteen years teaching literacy to adults in Ireland, she now lives in Pennsylvania.

TORREY MALDONADO was voted a 2012 Top 10 New Latino Author to Watch (and Read) by LatinoStories.com. His debut young adult novel, Secret Saturdays, was an American Library Association Quick Pick and has been featured on CNN and other media outlets. Praised for its current feel and timeless themes, Secret Saturdays has found a place on both state and college reading lists alongside classics. Born and raised in a Brooklyn project, Torrey overcame neighborhood poverty and violence to be the first member of his immediate family to attend college. A graduate of Vassar College and veteran teacher, Torrey also trained schools to implement conflict resolution programs through the country’s largest victim-services agency.

CHARLES R. SMITH JR. is the author and photographer of more than twenty books for children. He has won numerous awards, including a Coretta Scott King Author Honor for Twelve Rounds to Glory: The Story of Muhammad Ali and a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for My People. He has shown his versatility with a novel, short-story collections, poetry, biography, and nonfiction. This is his second anthology as an editor and contributor. His first, Pick-Up Game, was also co-edited with Marc Aronson. Charles R. Smith Jr. lives in Poughkeepsie with his wife and their three kids.

WILL WEAVER’s novel Memory Boy is read widely in schools across America. An outdoorsman from Minnesota, he owns several long guns for hunting. His most recent book is a memoir, The Last Hunter: An American Family Album.

RITA WILLIAMS-GARCIA is the New York Times best-selling author of nine novels for young adults and middle-grade readers. Her recent novels Jumped and One Crazy Summer were named National Book Award Finalists, and One Crazy Summer was also named a Coretta Scott King Author Award winner, a Newbery Honor Book, and a Scott O’Dell Award winner. Her short stories have appeared in more than a dozen anthologies, and she sponsors an annual short-story writing contest for teens. Rita Williams-Garcia lives in Jamaica, New York; has two adult daughters; and is on faculty at the Vermont College of Fine Arts Writing for Children and Young Adults MFA Program.