R. J. Pala­cio lives in New York City with her hus­band, two sons, and two dogs. For more than twen­ty years, she was an art direc­tor and graph­ic design­er, design­ing book jack­ets for oth­er peo­ple while wait­ing for the per­fect time in her life to start writ­ing her own nov­el. But one day sev­er­al years ago, a chance encounter with an extra­or­di­nary child in front of an ice cream store made R.J. real­ize that the per­fect time to write that nov­el had final­ly come. Won­der is her first nov­el. She did not design the cov­er, but she sure does love it. Her oth­er books include 365 Days of Won­der: Mr. Browne’s Book of Pre­cepts, Aug­gie & Me: Three Won­der Sto­ries, and We’re All Won­ders.