Deborah Hopkinson is an American writer of children's books, primarily historical fiction, nonfiction and picture books. She was born in Lowell, Massachusetts. 'Titanic: Voices from the Disaster' was a Robert F. Sibert Honor book and a YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction finalist. 'The Great Trouble: A Mystery of London, the Blue Death, and a Boy Called Eel' was an Oregon Book Award Finalist and winner of the Oregon Spirit Award. She has also written 'Apples to Oregon', 'Maria's Comet,' 'Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek,' 'Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, winner of the International Reading Association Award, Sky Boys, a Boston Globe–Horn Book Award Honor book, Girl Wonder: A Baseball Story in Nine Innings about Alta Weiss a Jane Addams Children's book honor award winner for 2004, and Shutting Out the Sky, also a Jane Addams Children's Book honor award and an NCTE Orbis Pictus honor book.