Bibi Belford

With a master's in bilingual literacy and reading and ESL endorsements, Bibi Belford spent many years teaching reading to second-language learners and serving as a literacy coach for teachers. When her students kept complaining that few books related to their experiences, she promised to write one for them. Canned and Crushed is that book. Now, her former students are her biggest fans. Her second novel, a middle-grade historical fiction set in Chicago in 1919, received a Christopher Award for books that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit." Another D for DeeDee is a novel inspired by a fourth-grade girl with diabetes who begged Bibi to write a book about a girl like her. That book earned a Kirkus Star. Bibi's latest book, Soccer to the Max, is all about soccer. Bibi moved to Chicago after spending her whole life in the suburbs and is learning to love city living. She has four kids and four grandkids and loves hiking, biking, reading, quilting, and volunteering at local schoolsl.