PATRICIA REILLY GIFF is the author of many beloved books for children, including the Kids of the Polk Street School books. Several of her novels for middle-grade readers have been chosen as ALA-ALSC Notable Books and ALA-YALSA Best Books for Young Adults. They include The Gift of the Pirate Queen; All the Way Home; Water Street; Nory Ryan's Song, a Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Golden Kite Honor Book for Fiction; and the Newbery Honor books Lily's Crossing and Pictures of Hollis Woods. Lily's Crossing was also chosen as a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book. Her most recent novels are R My Name Is Rachel, Storyteller, Eleven, and Wild Girl; her books for younger readers in the Zigzag Kids series include Number One Kid, Big Whopper, and Flying Feet.