Jane St. Anthony grew up in south Minneapolis in a house with a front porch that lent itself to summer reading. At the University of Minnesota, she earned a bachelor's degree in English. She has written for nonprofit organizations and a variety of businesses.

Her first middle grade novel, The Summer Sherman Loved Me (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2006), was completed while she was a resident at The Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Red Wing, Minnesota. Grace Above All (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2007) is her second novel for middle school readers.

She and her husband, Louis, are the parents of Emily and Edward. Her senior cat, Tommy, provided the inspiration for a novel which is as yet untitled.

Grace Above All
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007
ages 10 and up, ISBN 978-0-374-39940-5

What’s that pink thing out on the lake? Grace realizes with horror that the distant pink smudge on the water is her youngest sister, Beth, drifting farther and farther offshore atop an inflatable raft. There’s no time to lose, and Grace never dawdles anyway. Struggling through the cold waves, Grace gradually closes in on her terrified sister. At that moment, boys are the last thing on Grace’s mind. But a boy turns up to assist in the rescue. And he’s really handsome. Together Frankie and Grace tow Beth back to safety, and Grace begins to hope that maybe—despite having to take care of three younger siblings, despite an oblivious mother smoking her brains out, despite the ancient great-aunt and her mysterious daughter—maybe this summer vacation won’t be so bad after all.

In the companion to The Summer Sherman Loved Me, a determined heroine discovers that she can indeed rise above it all.

The Summer Sherman Loved Me
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006
ages 10 and up, ISBN 978-0-374-37289-7

What happens when you get what you think you want and then don’t know what to do with it? When twelve-year-old Margaret hears the boy next door call to her in the middle of the night, her heart races with excitement—and nervousness. Will this mean Sherman is her boyfriend? Although Sherman insists that Margaret come and join him for a moonlit bike ride, he doesn’t know what to expect any more than she does. But Sherman makes a big mistake on their first date, and Margaret doesn’t know if she will ever forgive him. Things get even more chaotic when Sherman shows up with a squirrel he calls Little Margaret.