Swanson, Julie A.: - Julie A. Swanson grew up on Michigan's Leelanau Peninsula, the setting for this story. As a kid, she enjoyed exploring the great outdoors, building forts, playing pretend games, writing and illustrating poems and stories, woodworking, sports, art, and reading . . . but she could never find books about anyone who was as uncomfortable being a girl as she was, who loved a sport to the extent she did, or who had a Polish last name like hers (Polakowski). So she decided she would one day write those books. Now an author of middle grade and young adult novels, Julie lives in Virginia.