The author of the acclaimed children's historical fiction book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes (1977), Coerr also penned Sam the Minuteman (1995); Josefina Story Quilt (2006); Biography of a Kangaroo (1976); and many other children's novels and picture books. After earning an undergraduate degree in English from American University, she obtained a master's in library science from the University of Maryland and subsequently worked as a journalist, newspaper editor, and creative writing teacher. She published her first children's book, Twenty-five Dragons, in 1971.
