About the author: Susan campbell Bartoletti
Helmuth, the main character, and Susan Campbell Bartoletti, the author, both had a mutual goals to achieve with their writing. They both wanted to inform others in this book about hardships, Nazi rule, and a little bit behind the scenes of what is true and not. But what the book doesn't tell a lot about is who Susan was.
Susan was born in Harrisburg, PA in the United States in 1958. Growing up she had pets like any other child in America. Some of them were, guinea pigs, parakeets, hamsters and the most unusual, a goat. Later in life she attended Marywood College, filling her schedule with literature classes. She had her first real job as a 8th grade language teacher for 18 years. Bartoletti then switched to creative writing after realizing harsh competition in the playing field, and ended up being praised for her work. Momentarily she fills her time with writing poetry, short stories, picture books, novels, and nonfiction for young readers. Over time she won many awards such as Newbery Honor, ALA, Sibert Medal, and Jane Addams Children’s for Book for Older Children. Finally some more compositions written by Susan are,” Black Potatoes”,” The Great Omish Famine”,” Hitlers Youth”, and “Growing up in Coal Country.”