Robert D. San Souci was born in 1946 in San Francisco. After holding jobs in book stores and in publishing, San Souci has been a full-time award-winning childrens book author since 1974. San Souci is best known for his adaptations of folklore for children. His first books, The Legend of Scarface and Song of Sedna, were written in 1978 and 1981, respectively. Since then he has written dozens of others. His brother Daniel frequently illustrates his work. The Legend of Scarface won the Notable Childrens Trade Book in the Social Studies, National Council for the Social Studies, and was a Horn Book honor list citation. Sukey and the Mermaid won the American Library Associations Notable Book citation in 1992, and Cut from the Same Cloth won an Aesop Award from the Childrens Folklore Section of the American Folklore Society. Robert San Souci has also written some nonfiction works for children and several novels for adults.