Clara Gillow Clark is a critically acclaimed author of six novels of historical fiction for middle grade readers. In addition to many of her books being shortlisted for numerous State awards, her novel, Willie and the Rattlesnake King won an International Reading Association Young Adult Choice Award, and her novel, Hill Hawk Hattie was a Bank Street College Best Book of the Year 2004. Clara studied writing at New School for Social Research, and has taught writing for over twenty years for the Institute of Children’s Literature.