Vivian Vande Velde was born in New York City on June 18, 1951, to Pasquale and Marcelle (nee Giglio) Brucato. Her father was a linotype operator. She remembers making up stories to entertain herself when she was a child. She attended the State University of New York at Brockport from 1969 to 1970 and the Rochester Business Institute from 1970 to 1971. In 1974, she married computer analyst Jim Vande Velde. They have one daughter.

Vande Velde reports that she feels inspired by good writings by others; she wants to write as well or better than they do. To her, people with selfdoubts make the most credible characters, and she likes to have them discover that they can cope with the difficulties of their lives. Believable characterization is one of the hallmarks of her fiction. In 1986, one of her books, A Hidden Magic, was named one of the Child Study Association...