[1][2] She is the author of several novels for children, including the best-selling Wonder, which was adapted into a 2017 film starring Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson.

[1][3] R.J. began her writing career as an illustrator, designing book covers for Paul Auster, Thomas Pynchon, and others.

Finally, White Bird (2019) is a graphic novel which tells the story of Julian's Grandmère when she was a young Jewish girl hidden from the Nazis by a family in France during World War II.

She spent a year at the American University of Paris, travelling widely throughout Europe, before returning to New York.

[4] She currently lives in North Carolina with her husband Russell Gordon, an executive art director at Simon and Schuster Children's Books,[10] and their two sons Caleb and Joseph.