René Colato Laínez is the award winning author of WAITING FOR PAPA, PLAYING LOTERIA, and I AM RENE, THE BOY. Colato Laínez is a graduate of the Vermont College MFA program in Writing for Children & Young Adults. He has been a bilingual elementary teacher at Fernangeles Elementary School, where he is known by the students as "the teacher full of stories." His forthcoming books are RENE HAS TWO LAST NAMES (Piñata Books, Fall 2009) and THE TOOTH FAIRY MEETS EL RATON PEREZ (Tricycle Press, Spring 2010)