Vermont College of Fine Arts

Shelley Tanaka is the author of more than twenty nonfiction books for children and young adults, including seven titles in the award-winning I Was There series (On Board the Titanic). Her books have won the Mr. Christie’s Book Award, the Science in Society Book Award and the Information Book Award, and she has twice been nominated for the Deutsche Jugendliteraturpreis; other honors include Texas Bluebonnet runner-up, VOYA Nonfiction Honor List, SLJ Best Book, ALA Notable and IRA Young Adults’ Choice. Her books have been translated into nine languages. Shelley is also the fiction editor at Groundwood Books, where she has worked with many of Canada’s finest children’s book writers. Her most recent book, Amelia Earhart: The Legend of the Lost Aviator, won the 2009 Orbis Pictus Award.