Jane Kurtz has authored more than 22 books for early readers, nonfiction books, professional books for teachers, picture books, and novels that draw on her own childhood memories of growing up in Ethiopia, on living through the Red River flood of 1997, on her great grandmother's adventures traveling the Oregon Trail, and on the minor crises of her children's lives-from a friendship gone sour to the grouchiness of a rainy day. She currently lives (and writes) in Hesston, Kansas and maintains a website at www.janekurtz.com.