Susan Campbell Bartoletti was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and grew up surrounded by lots of pets — ducks, guinea pigs, parakeets, hamsters, even a goat. As a girl, Bartoletti enjoyed horseback riding, piano lessons and exploring nature, but she liked reading and drawing the best.
Bartoletti majored in English in college and enjoyed all kinds of writing assignments, including research reports, creative writing assignments, poetry and journalism. After graduation, she became an eighth-grade English teacher and advisor to the student literary magazine. For nearly ten years she taught and wrote books, and she credits her students with inspiring her to pursue writing full time.
Bartoletti writes picture books, as well as great non-fiction for older students. She is the author of Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine 1845-1850 (Sibert Award) Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow (Newbery Honor) and Growing Up in Coal Country.