Born in Baltimore, Carole Boston Weatherford earned a BA from American University, an MA from the University of Baltimore, and an MFA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She has written more than 40 books, including Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom (2006), winner of an NAACP Image Award, a Coretta Scott King Award, and a Caldecott Honor; Becoming Billie Holiday (2008); Before John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane (2008); Birmingham, 1963 (2007), winner of a Jefferson Cup and Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award; and The Sound That Jazz Makes (2000), winner of a Carter G. Woodson Award from the National Council for Social Studies. She often writes about African American history, families and traditions, and jazz. In an interview, Weatherford says, “When I was growing up, there was no multicultural literature. … So that was a void in my life. I was just happy to see that there were so many more opportunities for my kids to read books about children of color.” Source