Mildred D. Taylor is the author of eight previous novels and has garnered such awards a Newbery Medal, three Coretta Scott King Awards, and a Boston Globe-Horn Book award. She received her Master of Arts degree from the University of Colorado's School of Journalism and went on to work as a proofreader-editor program coordinator for an international house and a community free school. She now devotes her time to her family, writing, and what she terms the "family ranch" in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.