Jeanne Birdsall (1951-) is an American author awarded with the National Book Award for Young People's Literature in 2005 for her debut novel A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy. She was raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia, and, while she decided to become a writer at age ten, she didn't start until she was 41. She worked on other jobs in between, most notably as a photographer, and some of her work has been displayed in galleries around the world. Birdsall has had many, many pets, including dogs, cats, rabbits and a snail. Birdsall currently lives in a house that is "old and comfortable, full of unruly animals, and surrounded by gardens" in Northampton, Massachusetts, which is coincidentally the town that Eric Carle, a more famous author and illustrator, lives.
Birdsall's first book A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. Birdsall's second book The Penderwicks on Gardam Street, published in April 2008, is the second of a planned five Penderwick sisters book collection. The third Penderwicks novel, titled The Penderwicks at Point Mouette, will be released in the summer of 2011. Birdsall's picture-book debut, Flora's Very Windy Day, was released in August 2010.