Tom Townsend is a writer, a historian, and a film producer. He is one of the best-known authors of young adult fiction, and many of his books are used in school systems, particularly in the Southwest. He attended high school at the Munich American School in Germany, where his father was an Army officer. A screenwriter as well as a novelist, Townsend has written more than two dozen books. He has won awards from the Friends of American Writers and the Houston International Film Festival, and he has been included on the Bluebonnet Master List.