Sara Madden has always been the kind of person who notices. The girl eating lunch alone. The kid who keeps his coat on indoors. The one who doesn't unpack her locker. She grew up believing that the quietest people in the room usually had the most important things to say - they just needed someone to sit beside them and wait. Sara lives in Utah with a magical family and a house full of typewriters that don't work, which she keeps because some things matter more for what they mean than what they do. When she isn't writing, she can be found roller skating, visiting museums, volunteering with the Girl Scouts, or watching squirrels boss each other around. She is also the author of several whimsical books for younger readers, where witches are beautiful, trolls are polite, and spiders write excellent poetry.

The Red Balloon is her second novel for middle school readers. She wrote it for every person who has ever carried their whole life in a backpack - and for every person brave enough to push a strawberry to the center of the table.