Frances O'Roark Dowell was born on a military post in Berlin, Germany on May 30, 1964. She received a B.A. from Wake Forest University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing (Poetry) from the University of Massachusetts. She has written numerous books including Where I'd Like to Be, The Secret Language of Girls, The Kind of Friends We Used to Be, Chicken Boy, and Falling In. She also writes the Phineas L. MacGuire series. She has received numerous awards for her work including Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Juvenile Novel for Dovey Coe in 2001, the William Allen White Award for Dovey Coe in 2003, and the Christopher Medal for Shooting the Moon.