Vivian Vande Velde is the author of 40 books, mostly fantasy, including picture books, easy readers (ages 7 - 10), middle grade (ages 8 - 12), young adult (12 years old +), and short story collections. Her books have been on reading lists put together by the American Library Association, The New York Public Library, and the International Reading Association, as well as being named on a variety of state student-awarded lists and chosen for One School/One Book programs throughout the US and Canada. Feisty princesses, take-charge squirrels, and ghosts, wizards and witches—some friendly, some not—are a specialty.