Samantha van Leer is a junior in high school. She conceived the idea for Between the Lines and pitched it to her mom, Jodi Picoult, who was in the middle of a book tour.

In her spare time, Samantha can be found playing softball, doing contemporary dance, acting and singing in musicals, and cuddling on the ground with her two dogs, Dudley and Oliver—for whom the prince in this fairy tale was named.