Before becoming a writer, Pam Turner was a legislative assistant for foreign affairs for a California congressman, and later worked as an international health consultant. She and her husband, whom she met while studying abroad in Kenya, have lived all over the world, and have three children each born in a different country. Upon returning to the United States, Pamela decided to finally follow her childhood dream of becoming a children’s writer. Her first book, Hachiko (Houghton Mifflin), won the SCBWI Golden Kite Honor Award for Picture Book Text and the BCCB Blue Ribbon Picture Book Award. Pam is also the author of The Frog Scientist, The Dolphins of Shark Bay, Crow Smarts (all in Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's Scientist in the Field series), and more. Pam lives in Oakland, California.

Her newest book is Samurai Rising: The Epic Life of Minamoto Yoshitsune. This riveting biography is a great introduction for early teens to the life of one of the greatest warriors. It is an epic tale of warriors and bravery, rebellion and revenge, reads like a novel, but this is the true story of the greatest samurai in Japanese history.

When Yoshitsune was just a baby, his father went to war with a rival samurai family—and lost. His father was killed, his mother captured, and his brothers sent away. Yoshitsune was raised in his enemy’s household until he was sent away to live in a monastery. He grew up skinny and small. Not the warrior type. But he did inherit his family pride and when the time came for the Minamoto to rise up against their enemy once again, Yoshitsune was there. His daring feats, such as storming a fortress by riding on horseback down the side of a cliff and his glorious victory at sea, secured Yoshitsune’s place in history and his story is still being told centuries later.

Please select any of these titles and be sure to note who the books should be autographed for.

Note any details in the comments section at checkout.