G. Z. Schmidt was born in China and immigrated to the United States when she was six. She grew up in the Midwest and the South where she chased fireflies, listened for tornado warnings, and pursued a love of reading. In the third grade, she began writing stories in a spiral-bound notebook, and never looked back. She is the author of No Ordinary Thing and The Dreamweavers, which was named a New York Public Library Best Book of the Year and a CCBC Choice book. She currently lives in California with her husband and their tuxedo cat.