Michael Cadnum strives to write books that he would have read as a teenager. A versatile author who has penned poetry, picture books, and horror and mystery novels for adults in addition to his young adult novels, Cadnum identifies himself primarily as a poet. Originally from Orange, California, where he was born on May 3,1949, Cadnum moved with his family to nearby Costa Mesa, growing up in the Los Angeles area where he wrote and illustrated stories as a child. Cadnum read voraciously, believing that books offered answers to secrets he sought about life.

Graduating from the University of California, he earned a master's degree from San Francisco State University. Cadnum sets most of his young adult fiction in the Bay area where he lives in Albany with his wife, Sherina. His familiarity with his characters' surroundings and culture strengthens the realism of his storytelling...