Caroline Arnold is the author of 170 books for children and has received numerous awards--from the American LIbrary Association, P.E.N., the National Science Teachers Association, A.A.A.S. and many others. In 2005 she received the Washington Post/Children's Book Guild Award for her body of work. Until she was ten, she lived with her family at North East Neighborhood House in Minneapolis, MN. After majoring in art and literature at Grinnell College in Iowa, she received her M.A. in art at the University of Iowa. She has illustrated 19 of her books. Although most of her work is nonfiction, she writes fiction as well. She lives in Los Angeles where she has taught at the UCLA Extension Writer's Program. Settlement House Girl is her first book for adults.