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Mitali Bose Perkins was born in Kolkata (Calcutta), India. Her name means "friendly" in Bangla, and she had to try and live up to it because the Bose family moved so often – they lived in India, Ghana, Cameroon, London, New York City, and Mexico City before settling in the San Francisco Bay Area when she was in middle school.

Mitali studied political science at Stanford University and public policy at U.C. Berkeley, surviving academia thanks to a steady diet of kids’ books from public libraries and bookstores, and went on to teach middle school, high school, and college students. She lived in India, Bangladesh, Thailand, and California with her husband and twin sons before the Perkins family moved to Newton, Massachusetts, where they live now.

Mitali's books include Monsoon Summer (Random House), a Bank Street Best Book for Children, A New York Library Book for the Teen Age, and a TEXAS/TAYSHAS Best Book for Young Adults. She also wrote The Not-So-Star-Spangled Life of Sunita Sen (Little Brown), another book for young teens, which was an ALA Book for Reluctant Readers and the winner of the Christian School’s Association’s Lamplighter Award. In 2007, two novels, Rickshaw Girl (Charlesbridge) for upper elementary readers and First Daughter: Extreme American Makeover (Dutton) for teens, were released. Forthcoming titles include First Daughter: White House Rules (Dutton, 2008), The Secret Keeper (Random House, 2009), and The Bamboo People (Charlesbridge, 2009). Mitali also enjoys visiting schools and libraries to discuss “books between cultures” and the life-changing power of story.

Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Hip Writer Mama

Big A little a

Paper Tigers

The Edge of the Forest