Irene Hunt was the author of many distinguished books for young readers. Her first novel, Across Five Aprils, was a Newbery Award Honor book and received a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award. Her second novel, Up a Road Slowly, was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1966. Ms. Hunt was born in southern Illinois and received degrees from the University of Illinois and the University of Colorado. For many years she taught in the public schools of northern Illinois, and later taught psychology at the University of South Dakota. She died in 2001.