Pam Muoz Ryan is the author of Echo, a New York Times Best Seller, a Newbery Honor Novel from 2016, and the Kirkus Award winner. She has authored over forty novels for children and has received numerous awards, including the National Endowment for the Arts' Human and Civil Rights Prize, the Virginia Hamilton Literary Award, the Willa Cather Award, the Pura Belpré Medal, and the PEN USA Award. Esperanza Rising, Riding Freedom, Becoming Naomi León, Paint the Wind, and The Dreamer are some of her novels.