Jolene Gutiérrez grew up on a farm, surrounded by animals, plants, and history. Now, she lives with her family and a variety of animals in a suburb of Denver, Colorado. She is an award-winning neurodivergent teacher librarian who has been working with neurodivergent learners at Denver Academy since 1995. She teaches grades two through twelve, and her lessons focus on information literacy while exploring history, social justice, and social emotional learning. Jolene is a lifelong learner whose writing is informed by her goals of sharing little-known history and helping readers grow their compassion and understanding of others’ stories. She’s a contributor to If I Could Choose a Best Day: Poems of Possibility and the author of Unbreakable: A Japanese American Family in an American Incarceration Camp (coauthored with Minoru Tonai), Mamiachi and Me: My Mami’s Mariachi Band (coauthored with her son, Dakota), The Ofrenda That We Built (coauthored with her daughter, Shaian), Too Much! An Overwhelming Day, the Stars of Latin Pop series, Bionic Beasts: Saving Animal Lives with Artificial Flippers, Legs, and Beaks, and Mac and Cheese and the Personal Space Invader. Find her online at www.jolenegutierrez.com.
