Lurlene McDaniel received a B.A. in English from the University of South Florida in Tampa. Before she started writing young adult books, she wrote a magazine column and promos and commercials at a television station. After her children were born, she turned to freelance advertising. When her son was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes, she attended a convention for diabetes and met up with the organizer who connected her with a publishing company specializing in childrens books. Her first book was Kickaroo: The Soccer Playing Kangaroo. She soon realized that writing picture books was not what she wanted to do, so she wrote Will Never Dance Again, about a girl who is diagnosed with diabetes. Thus began her career writing stories about teenagers who overcome life altering illnesses and the lessons learned. Over the course of her career, she has written over 40 books, received the RITA Award for Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, and has been recognized three times with the IRA-CBC Childrens Choice Award.