Marion Dane Bauer was awarded a Newbery Honor in 1987 for her book On My Honor. She has been publishing award-winning books since 1976, including Rain of Fire, which received the 1984 Jane Addams Children's Book Award, and the 1993 ALA Notable Children's Book What's Your Story? A Young Person's Guide to Writing Fiction.

She conceived of the idea and gathered the authors for this collection out of a conviction that those who write for young people have a responsibility, whenever possible, to speak out on subjects such as homosexuality that society attempts to shroud in silence.

Ms. Bauer lives in Minneapolis with her partner, Ann Goddard.