Deborah Hopkinson was born in Lowell, Massachusetts.
She is the author of approximately 30 children's [[books]], including ''Hear My Sorrow'', the final book in the [[Dear America]] series. She has also written ''Sweet Clara'' and the ''Freedom Quilt'', winner of the [[International Reading Association]] Award, ''Sky Boys'', a [[Boston Globe]]-[[Horn Book]] Honor book, ''Girl Wonder: A Baseball Story in Nine Innings'' about [[Alta Weiss]] a Jane Addams Children's book honor award winner for 2004, and ''Shutting Out the Sky'', also a Jane Addams Children's Book honor award and an NCTE Orbis Pictus honor book.