Margaret Peterson Haddix is the New York Times-bestselling author of more than 50 books for kids and teens, including the Shadow Children series and her new Mysteries of Trash and Treasure. After growing up on a farm near Washington Court House, Ohio, she graduated from Miami University with degrees in journalism, creative writing, and history. She worked as a newspaper reporter in Indianapolis and a community college instructor in Danville, Illinois, before her first book, RUNNING OUT OF TIME, was published. She and her husband now live in Columbus, where they raised their two kids.