Byrd Baylor (March 28, 1924 – June 16, 2021) was an American novelist, essayist, and author of picture books for children.
[1] Baylor's work presents images of the Southwest and an intense connection between the land and the Native American people.
[1] Her prose illustrates vividly the value of simplicity, the natural world, and the balance of life within it.
[3] She wrote an essay entitled Good Women Who Love Bad Trucks which she read aloud for radio station KXCI.
[7][8] Baylor was awarded Caldecott Honors for her books When Clay Sings (1973) with illustrator Tom Bahti, and The Desert is Theirs (1976), Hawk, I'm Your Brother (1977), and The Way to Start a Day (1979) with illustrator Peter Parnall.