Melanie ConklinMelanie Conklin grew up in North Carolina and worked as a product designer before she began her writing career. Her debut middle grade novel, Counting Thyme, is a Nerdy Book Award winner, a Bank Street Best Children's Book, winner of th International Literacy Association Teacher' Choice Award, and a finalist for the Missouri Mark Twain Book Award, the Iowa Children's Choice Award, the Illinois Bluestem Award, and the Arkansas Charlie May Simon Award. She is also the author of middle grade novels Every Missing Piece (Nebraska Golden Sower Award Nominee), A Perfect Mistake (Utah CLAU Beehive Book Award Nominee, South Carolina Book Award), the forthcoming Crushed (2024), and her debut picture book, When You Have to Wait. When she's not writing, Melanie spends her time doodling and dreaming up new ways to be creative. She lives in Massachusetts with her family. Read More Read Less