Pat Schmatz celebrates her birthday on November 9th. Happy birthday, Pat! Ms. Schmatz grew up in rural Wisconsin. She earned her undergraduate degree in psychology at Michigan State University, and a master's in physical education at the University of California— Berkeley. She lived for several years in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she worked for the Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis and volunteered at the Minneapolis Public Schools.

Mrs. Estronsky and the UFO, a middle-grade novel, is her first book. In 2007, her first young adult novel Circle the Truth, was published, and a second YA novel will follow in 2008. Currently, Ms. Schmatz is living in her hometown in eastern Wisconsin.