Patricia Hermes celebrates her birthday on February 21st. Her first book, published in 1980, was What If They Knew. Patricia writes novels for intermediate and middle school readers as well as funny, up-beat series for K-2. She has won several children's choice awards, an ALA Best Book and SLJ Best Book. She has also had several movie adaptations of her work. Patricia helped launch the My America series with Our Strange New Land, Westward to Home, Season of Promise, and Starving Time. Her latest in the series is A Perfect Place: Joshua's Oregon Trail Diary. Patricia lives in Fairfield, Connecticut.