Rachel G. Payne is an award-winning children’s librarian and author. Her debut picture book is Let’s Rumble: A Rough-and-Tumble Book of Playillustrated by Jose Pimienta (Rise x Penguin Workshop). She pens the “Board Book Roundups” for The Horn Book Magazine was the former “First Steps” columnist for School Library Journal. She has served on multiple award committees, including acting as chair of the 2016 Caldecott Award Committee and a founding member of the Margaret Wise Brown Board Book Award Jury. She has over two decades of public service in urban libraries, training children’s librarians and managing system-wide initative. This year, she won theALA Scholastic Library Publishing Award, which is presented to a librarian whose "unusual contribution to the stimulation and guidance of reading by children and young people" exemplifies outstanding achievement in the profession. She has presented at conferences nationwide, including American Library Association, U.S. Play Coalition, New York Library Association, ALSC Institute, and Public Library Association Conferences. She lives in Queens, NY with her husband and son.