Betsy Byars was born in North Carolina, USA. Her father worked in a cotton mill, and Betsy went to school in a cotton-mill village. Her early aspirations were to work with animals, but then she married an engineering lecturer and moved to Illinois. Housebound with young children, Betsy began writing articles for newspapers and magazines. As the children started to read, so she began to write stories for them. Using her children's experience, and memories from her own childhood, she produced many children's books. She now lives in South Carolina.