Peg Kehret is the author of over two dozen children's novels; most of them, such as award-winners Deadly Stranger, Nightmare Mountain, and Earthquake Terror, serving up heavy doses of suspense and danger. Kehret has also written nonfiction for adults as well as for children. Her Winning Monologs for Young Actors and Acting Natural both reflect her own commitment to theater; the multi-talented Kehret has also penned six plays. The winner of the 1998 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, Kehret's Small Steps documents her own fight with a childhood case of polio that left her temporarily paralyzed. In a Booklist review of Kehret's Earthquake Terror, Stephanie Zvirin neatly summed up the author's career to date: "Prolific author Kehret has a well-deserved reputation for writing good, solid thrillers for middle-graders."

Born in LaCrosse, Wisconsin in 1936, Kehret formed an early passion for words and writing. Paid three cents a story by her grandfather...