Kirby Larson is the bestselling author of Hattie Big Sky, a 2007 Newbery Honor Book; Hattie Ever After; The Friendship Doll; Dear America: The Fences Between Us; Duke; Dash, winner of the Scott O'Dell Prize for Historical Fiction; Liberty; Code Word Courage; Audacity Jones to the Rescue; and Audacity Jones Steals the Show. She also cowrote the picture books Two Bobbies: A Real Tale of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship, and Survival and Nubs: A True Story of a Mutt, a Marine, and a Miracle, both of which won awards. She and her spouse, Winston the Wonder Dog, live in Washington.