Ann Rinaldi was born on August 27, 1934 in New York City, but lived most of her childhood in New Jersey with her father and stepmother. She describes her childhood as an unhappy one, because she did not get along with her stepmother. Even though Rinaldi's father was a newspaper man, he tried to prevent her from becoming a writer, even though she wrote poetry, short stories, and won essays during her high school years. After graduating from high school, she was not permitted to attend college, but was sent to secretarial school instead. It was not until after her marriage that Rinaldi sought a career as a newspaper columnist. She became an award-winning feature writer and columnist, writing for her local papers for more than twenty years, and syndicating her column.

Rinaldi's first published novel was Term Paper, which emerged from a short story she...