Clare Vanderpool lives in Wichita, KS with her husband and four children.  As a huge fan of March Madness, she was thrilled to be asked to participate in SLJ’s Battle of the Books because it combines two of her favorite things:  brackets and books!  Clare has been a life-long reader who has been known to read in unlikely places:  dressing rooms, math class, long stoplights, church… oh, like you never.  Her first book, Moon Over Manifest won the 2011 Newbery Medal and Navigating Early was named a Printz Honor book.  Clare is diligently working on her next book and in case her editor is reading this, she is definitely not using Battle of the Books as a way to justify reading instead of writing.